rom Mozambique to Brazil, the Portuguese were very busy discovering and colonising from the 14th century. But the tables have turned and the world has found there’s much to discover in this country, and the first point of call is Lisbon. With long, sun-saturated days, there’s barely an off-season in Portugal’s capital. The city can stay heavily booked into October when temperatures remain in the high 20s and the sun eases into the horizon around 7pm, washing a golden glow across the terracotta rooftops and sending those with the luxury of time to miradouros (viewpoints) and rooftop bars. It’s just after sunset that you realise there are two tales to this city. By day, sunlight pings off the worn-to-shiny limestone cobblestones, saturating the city with light. In the evening, windows come alive to reveal a spread of more treats to discover. None of which involves the likes of activated almonds or turmeric lattes. Traditional Portuguese cuisine is robust, honest and comes with a rich heritage. At its heart and soul is salted cod, known as bacalhau.

The national larder is stocked with many other flavours, including cinnamon from Indonesia, piri piri from Mozambique and coffee from Brazil. If there was no more to Portuguese cuisine than cod cakes, grilled sardines and custard tarts (see ‘The best pastéis de nata’, p 139), you wouldn’t go unhappy or hungry. But there is much more to discover: meltingly tender octopus and white bean stew with just-cooked mint on the stem – a surprising addition that elevates and lightens this sustaining meal; petite rounds of ripe, gooey Amanteigado cheese to dip into; and bifana – the juicy pork sandwiches eaten standing up at hole-in-the-wall joints.

What’s pleasing and surprising as a traveller is the quality you’ll find across the board. The city is populated with hundreds of pastelerías (coffee shops), peixarias (seafood restaurants), tascas (bars) and quiosques (kiosks). They serve the city’s needs from dawn to dusk – from a fresh-pressed orange juice, cake and top-notch bica (espresso) for breakfast, right through to a nightcap of ginjinha, the famous morello cherry liqueur (try Eduardino, Portas de Santo Antão 7) and quiosques. A bica costs a mere 60 euro cents; double that for a ginjinha.

Lisbon is a compact city of exquisite artisan-crafted streets – the limestone cobbles and mosaics all laid by hand – that undulates over seven hills and dips its feet into the Tagus River. It’s an easy city to get around if you don’t begrudge steep hills; think of them as doing you a favour – the chance to walk off the many pastéis de nata, the fine, crispy pastry full of meltingly soft, cinammonscented custard. Start your exploring in Alfama, the oldest part of the city and its heart. Google maps hasn’t yet found some of its tiniest streets, but getting a little lost in Lisbon becomes a find when there’s always a homely peixaria to come to the rescue. So well patronised, these much-loved neighbourhood eateries will hopefully remain a part of the city’s fabric. A meal of tender, grilled whole fish, salad and perfectly seasoned potatoes typically costs less than eight euros. At the upper end of dining, José Avillez is the biggest name in the country, with nine restaurants and bars across the city. There’s also Ljubomir Stanisic, with Bistro 100 Maneiras, which recently earned the number-one spot in Monocle’s Best Restaurant awards. Henrique Sá Pessoa is another, with two restaurants in Lisbon – Tapisco, and Alma, which has a Michelin star. Alexandre Silva also has a star at Loco, which advocates organic fine-dining. Pair the dining opportunities with nearly 300 grape varieties, many of them unique to Portugal, and you have an exciting food and wine destination.

Pedro Caixado and Miguel Branco opened Nova (Rus Nova do Almada 18) after their friends harassed them into unleashing their natural talents as hosts, cooks and wine connoisseurs. The pair runs an advertising agency in the office upstairs and would regularly hold dinners for clients and friends, serving contemporary, restaurant-style meals. Creative director Pedro is passionate about Portuguese wine, hence the name Nova, which focuses on new wines, tending towards the organic and biodynamic. “We have more than 287 classified grape varieties in Portugal and we make structured wines to go with food – the wine completes the food,” he says. The succinct menu encapsulates the best of traditional Portuguese cuisine, yet presents it in a refreshing new light. Nova offers a contemporary tour of the country’s cuisine and new wine, with bottles stacked to the ceiling like a library and Pedro accessing their tasting notes with encyclopedic-like knowledge. You can also buy wine to take away.

The view from the balcony of The Insólito (Rue de São Pedro de Alcântara 83) is the kind that defines Lisbon – it crosses the city to Alfama and the castle district in one direction, taking in all the pink, yellow and blue hues of the old homes, then leads the eye west and out to the Tagus. It’s a knockout view, but if you dine indoors you can watch the theatrics at the bar where the banter, smiles and cocktail shakers are tossed around in equal measure. The cocktails have an artisan touch and the mood is relaxed and friendly. The food is contemporary, with French influences, and sections dedicated to fish and meat. It’s not just the views that seduce at Memmo Alfama (Travessa Merceeiras 27), it’s the whole stylish package. But starting with those views – directly ahead is the Tagus, so vast it could be mistaken for the sea, and to the left is a sweep of ancient Alfama, terracotta rooftops and Sao Jorge castle. Score a sunset here on the multi-zoned terrace and you’ll easily be seduced by this elegantly appointed destination. There’s a small but good selection of Portuguese wines, wellmixed cocktails and excellent bar snacks.

Tapisco (Rue Dom Pedro V 81) in posh Príncipe Real (where Madonna has a home) sets an inviting tone with its bar window open to the street, where you can watch vermouth-based cocktails being shaken and wines poured (there are more than 65 to choose from). Diners face the open kitchen and chefs work in what appears to be a state of seamless efficiency, preparing dishes refined from the best of Spanish and Portuguese cuisines. Relaxed sophistication follows through from the food to the mood, and the star chef behind it all is Henrique Sá Pessoa, with sous chef Joana Duarte. Sá Pessoa also has his Michelin-star restaurant, Alma, in nearby Chiado, and eponymous spot at Time Out Market.

The petite family run restaurant Fidalgo (Rue da Barroca 27) was established in the ’70s, long before Bairro Alto became the place that partygoers flock to for its endless nightlife. You’ll find Fidalgo down one of the many cobbled laneways in this residential neighbourhood populated with bars, cafes and restaurants. Sit outside and watch the night unfold, or head to the uncluttered dining room and take time over the menu of well-prepared traditional dishes and more than 150 wines. Grilled cod, seafood and bean stews, boar and beef, and rabbit in red wine are some the options that keep people coming back for more at this unassuming local.

Across the Tagus on the opposite side of Lisbon is Almada, a former industrial area that’s home to the towering statue of Christ, inspired by the one that presides over Rio de Janeiro. There’s also a string of seafood restaurants along the riverbank, and Ponto Final (Rue do Ginjal 72) is the best spot to enjoy a spread of classic Portuguese seafood dishes, including fried prawns, grilled sardines and monkfish stew. The restaurant sits its tables at the water’s edge – the perfect perch to view Lisbon city laid out across the river. To get there, take the ferry from Cais do Sodre to Almada, turn right and walk to the end, aka Ponto Final. It does become impossibly busy at night, so either book or try the lunch-time service. It can be disconcerting walking along the unlit waterfront after sundown, but don’t be put off – it’s well worth the short journey.

There are two markets that will quickly supply your culinary bearings of Portuguese food and local chefs. Time Out Market (timeoutmarket.com/lisboa) opened in 2014 at Mercado da Ribeira, close to the waterfront at Cais do Sodre. The initiative of the city guide of the same name has gathered some of Lisbon’s leading chefs and carefully selected specialty purveyors. A fresh-food market stands at one side, but most people come here for the dining area that dominates the central hall. Circling this are 24 eateries, including ones from Vítor Sobral, Henrique Sá Pessoa and Miguel Laffan. The main hall thrums; less-teeming is a bar stool at the same eateries, but on the other side of the hall, or dine outside for table service. For a more low-key but still humming market, Mercado de Campo de Ourique (mercadocampodeourique.pt) is a pioneer of Lisbon’s contemporary food culture and where locals have gathered for more than 80 years. There’s a fresh-food market at its outer tier; within are about 20 cafes, bars and eateries. Getting here allows you to take the oldest and most famous tram journey in Lisbon – the #28.

The nuns really started something when they began starching their habits with egg whites. With frugality in mind, something needed to be done with the yolks and this is how pastéis de nata came into being – a shell of crisp, filo-fine pastry encasing smooth, mouth-filling, almost gooey custard. A generous dusting of cinnamon is a final, but optional, flourish. When the monastery producing them was closed down in the 1830s, the recipe was passed onto what is now Pastéis de Belém (Rua de Belém 84-92), Lisbon’s most famous patisserie, which claims to still retain the original, secret recipe. And everyone wants in on it – there’s a constant queue for counter service. If that doesn’t put you off, the lines do move quickly and there’s also an acre of table seating inside the cavernous cafe. Tarts-to-go come beautifully packaged with sachets of cinnamon so generous they’d last for months in the spice rack of the less liberal. But rather than sit inside with the hordes, a more relaxed option is to enjoy your pastéis in the nearby Tropical Botanic Gardens (entry two euros).

Pastéis de nata can be found at hundreds of cafes and pastelarias throughout Lisbon. Many offer poor iterations, but you’ll find the tarts at Pastel de Nata Manteigaria (Rua do Loreto 2, Largo de Camoes) among the very best. Leaning up against the counter in this narrow shop, a former butter factory, you can watch pasteis being made by hand on marble benchtops – the pastry carefully rolled, cut and moulded into tins, filled and baked by staff who earnestly and respectfully carry out the 180-year-old tradition. Pastel de Nata Manteigaria is said to make about 7000 pastéis a day and, conveniently, for those who can’t get enough of the good stuff, is open from 8am to midnight.