Adegga's 50 best takeaway restaurants in Portugal

From the Adegga site:

'50 Restaurantes para Comer em Casa

Do melhor hambúrguer de Lisboa ao melhor leitão da Bairrada, apresentamos sugestões imperdíveis para encomendar e partilhar com os amigos e a família

Diz o ditado que ‘mudam-se os tempos, mudam-se as vontades’, mas nós temos de discordar. Se há coisa que não dispensamos à mesa é boa comida, capaz de despertar os sentidos e confortar a alma e, à volta dela, a melhor companhia.

Por isso preparámos uma seleção de alguns dos melhores Restaurantes para Comer em Casa, que não pode deixar de consultar da próxima vez que encomendar comida para partilhar com amigos ou em família.

A lista é tão diversificada quanto tentadora: da Feijoada à Transmontana da Taberna das Flores, ao Arroz de Polvo do Gaveto, sem esquecer o Leitão à Bairrada – porque há desvios de Rota impossíveis de contornar-, difícil vai ser decidir por onde começar.'

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Responding the closure of restaurants in Portugal due to Coronavirus, Adegga has produced a very useful guide to the 50 best restaurants in Portugal now offering takeaways. The selection doesn't cover the whole country instead it concentrates on restaurants in Lisbon and Porto and those within an hour of each of these cities.

As the entry for Tasca Da Esquina in Lisbon's Campo d'Ourique shows each of the 50 entries lists some of the available dishes, an indication of price, whether they also sell takeaway wine, the delivery zone, contact details and whether you can order through UberEats and Glovo. 

Unfortunately there are some minor drawbacks to this guide. Firstly, it could be financially crippling as I discover more interesting and tempting restaurants in Lisbon, in particular, that I should try. Secondly due to current air-traffic restrictions you can't order from these restaurants from outside Portugal.......

From yesterday (18th May) restaurants in Portugal have been allowed to reopen. This is an indication of Portugal's success in dealing with coronavirus.  As of Sunday 17th May Portugal had recorded 29,036 cases with 1218 deaths. This compares very favourably with its nearby countries – Spain, France, Italy and the UK.

The Portuguese love to eat out, so it will be interesting to see how they react to restaurants reopening. Will they be scared/ reluctant to go back? A question I put yesterday to André Ribeirinho, the CEO of Adegga: 

'Only time will tell. Lots of questions at the moment. Restaurants can open today at maximum 50% capacity, mandatory 2 meter distance between clients and strict cleaning measures.
'Taberna da Rua das Flores opens today and have said they will do takeaway/ delivery until 2021 at least.

'I think many people will continue to order from home for fear of eating out but also because they got used to to it. Uber Eats and Glovo have grown tremendously in the number of registered restaurants in the last two months. Some people will start this phase by staying at home and eating with friends. We will be updating the takeaway guide once a month at least until September.

Tourism is out until god knows when. Looming in the horizon is a massive crisis which is probably the biggest question for many of the restaurants. '

Although takeaways help a restaurant to keep going and retain at least some if not all of their staff, it does mean a significant cut in profits. Restaurants tend to make more of their money on drinks and extras sold than their food. People ordering takeaways will have whatever they intend to drink with their meal already at home. No possibility of customers' after thoughts – a dessert, some cheese, a fancy coffee or any after-dinner drink.

Coming out of lockdown is likely to be a particular challenge for small restaurants like Taberna, who for the first time are taking bookings  for specified times. Previously you queued outside in the street for a table.  

Porto

Great to see O Gaveto, one of Portugal's restaurants heading the Porto selection. As they have a very good wine list it is unsurprising that they are also offering to sell customers wine to go with their takeaway meal.

Bom apetite!