Eurico isn’t alone in its ambition. Around the corner, Tasca Baldracca is drawing a similar crowd; hungry for a delicious meal that feels authentic, and an experience they can tell their friends (or followers) about. The dishes here might be slightly less traditional than at Eurico (owner Pedro Monteiro is from Brazil, and brings Brazilian ideas and flavours to the Baldracca menu) but the premise is definitely comparable. Diners leave raving about the food, and remembering the experience they enjoyed.
Something that these chefs have in common is their introduction to the industry. Both Ze Paulo and Monteiro started in the kitchen at Taberna Sal Grosso, a much-loved small restaurant in Santa Apolónia (near Lisbon’s old town) that opened in 2015. Here, a huge chalkboard spreads the entire width of the wall, displaying the handwritten menu. Dishes are Portuguese – a migas (bread, beans and kale) here, a camarão à alhinho (shrimp with garlic) there. But even if that might feel intimidating to some, the staff ensure diners never feel overwhelmed; they pull up a wooden stool to sit with you and explain the dishes, or wax lyrical about the ones they feel passionate about. Similarly, Taberna da Rua das Flores in Chiado is full of keen staff having to turn hungry diners away when they hit capacity each day. Looking at these spots, you’d comfortably assume that there’s an almost insatiable appetite for Portuguese restaurants in Lisbon. So why doesn’t this popularity always extend to more traditional tascas?
“Eurico and Tasca Baldracca, they make it [the food] look really nice,” says Pedroso. “Of course, it’s also delicious, but that’s one of the differences. But in general, I think they try to keep the spirit, which is a certain reasonable price, and O Velho Eurico is very good at that… If you go there a few times, they will know you and say hi. After being there, you feel like you’re part of their circle of friends and family, and this is something that I’ve always felt in a tasca. Tascas also have a very important role in the community. Elderly people or retired people go and chat with owners on the counter, or they read the newspaper, and that’s it. So it’s this community feeling. Food brings people together.”
And perhaps Celia’s point, about the warmth and openness of tascas, is exactly what keeps regular tourists away. Perhaps that environment feels a little too intimidating, a step too close to home compared to the polite, formal service many of us are used to. But, as travellers, isn’t that the exact experience we’re all seeking? A genuine moment with locals who can delve into their history, explain how their dishes are influenced by their hometowns in the north of Portugal, or by the former colonies?
“The way for the tasca spirit to survive is by adapting and making some changes – just a little bit, just enough. But my biggest fear is that the recipes that someone like Adelaide at Imperial has – she has this amazing repertoire of recipes that are traditional, very old school – I fear when she retires, nobody will know how to cook them, because they’re in her head. These recipes are part of our culture and represent some parts of Portugal.”