Taberna da Rua das Flores, Lisbon: great evening with two Andrés

André Ribeirinho@Taberna da Rua das Flores

Not only is André Ribeirinho (Adegga) very good company but he wields considerable influence in Lisbon – able, for instance, to reserve a table@Taberna da Rua das Flores for the four of us on Friday night! This is a small and very popular restaurant just down from the Praça Luis de Camões, which does not normally take reservations and you can expect to queue for a table, especially on Friday and Saturday evenings.    

André Magalhães: owner and chef@Taberna da Rua das Flores

2012 Quinta da Lapa, DO Tejo

We arrrived a bit before André and chose a bottle of the 2012 Quinta da Lapa from the DO Tejo. Crisp, citric and lightly fruity this is a blend of Tamarez and Arinto.    

 Another advantage of being with André – you get to use his 

special glasses left at the Taberna – otherwise it's tumblers!

The menu explained: the idea is to choose about five 

small dishes for four people and to share

Trouble is they all sound delicious!

Brilliant first dish: small scallops with an oriental touch 

Just seared tuna coated with sesame seeds

Fish and chips au Magalhães!

Dish of creamy chanterelles

 1999 Terra Larga from Ribatejo – now Tejo

Blend of Arinto, Trincadeira das Pratas and Fernão Pires 

The 1999 Terra Larga was kindly brought by André R because he knows I enjoy old whites, assuming they are in good order as this one was. The extra bottle age has given this 1999 additional complexity with evolved, lightly oxidised notes – bottom line: delicious! Terra Larga is a small producer, who doesn't appear to be in a rush to sell his wines. Sales may be prompted by his wife when running out of storage space!

 The third white: Casal Figueira

I'm afraid details including vintage of our third white of the evening got rather overlooked by the good food and conversation. 

Our bill for four came to €124 – brilliant value for what we had – such inventive but simple cooking!

Scenes around the restaurant: 

 Looking through to the small main dining area

 If there are no tables available there is 

space on some steps to perch and eat

 People still queue to eat@around 11pm!

See Fabien Lainé's post (A table that would wake up Anthony Bourdain, in Central Lisbon!: Taberna da Rua das Flores) on Taberna da Rua das Flores and André Magalhães.