Address: Calçada do Duque 5, 1200-155 Lisboa, Portugal
Opening hours: 12:00-00:00 Mon to Sat, closed Sun
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With so much to see, do and eat in and around Lisbon, you may want to give your wallet a bit of a rest one night while still eating delicious Portuguese food. El Rei D. Frango, meaning something along the lines of Sir Chicken the King, sounds a little like a non-descript fried chicken eatery. However, this central restaurant on Rossio Square is a lot more than that. When you walk in from the hypnotic streets of Rossio, you instantly see the kitchen with the chefs hard at work to your right, letting you see everything they do and the mouth-watering dishes they create. If you can, get a table close to the kitchen so you can watch the action up close (if you don’t mind the heat).
When we went, we were immediately seen to by the friendly staff and ordered a sangria while we poured over their extensive menu. They also sell cocktails (I believe around 5 EUR per cocktail), beers and wines, but the sangria is a good choice too. After being treated to the show of watching the skilled chefs work at breakneck speed, we order ovos mexidos com farinheira (4.5 EUR) to start, which was essentially well-seasoned scrambled eggs with a Portuguese smoked sausage made from pork and flour. Despite being tempted by the cheaper fried chicken, we then go for grilled salmon (9 EUR) and frango à Brás (8 EUR), a chicken dish using a recipe that’s normally made with cod and which originated in Bairro Alto. They got the seasoning absolutely perfect and are experts in balancing salt.
We thankfully left room for dessert and got the best sweet of our entire time in Lisbon: bolo de bolacha (biscuit cake). Soft and creamy yet sweet and crunchy, this is the unsung hero of Portuguese desserts and deserves as much attention as pasteis de nata. Highly recommended. In fact, eating this dessert was like a divine revelation, spawning a fascination that sent us all over the city in search of the best bolo de bolacha. This one was probably the best, especially when served with a glass of Licor Beirão over ice.
Being such a touristy area, it’s easy to be wary when looking around central Lisbon, but if you want a great place for some cheap and delicious Portuguese chicken after a day of seeing the city’s sights, look no further than El Rei D. Frango.
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