Cervejaria Ramiro

Nothing struck me more about Portugal than their food. I came here knowing only Portuguese egg tart but there is certainly more to Portuguese food than that. I have found out that seafood is a must eat when here in Portugal. Although I friend of mine has been talking about Portuguese seafood I never really knew the extent of the seafood culture here. It was my last day in Portugal and I thought I should treat myself to a nice seafood meal. A quick search and you would find a place called Cervejeria Ramiro. It is outside the old city center but still accessible by metro. It seems that this place is pretty well known and they are so well known that you need to make reservations to eat here.

Unfortunately, that is something I didn’t do. I was hoping that it would be easy to get a table for one person but it seems that I need to wait. There was a large crowd of people outside the restaurant and they just opened for lunch. They built a waiting area beside their shop to make it easier for people to wait, especially the elderly. I managed to get a seat eventually and I impressed to see the restaurant was packed. I order what is probably their most famous dish – crab. I was given a massive crab to eat. The crab itself isn’t heavily seasoned and it just comes with its natural taste. However, the shell of the crab is full of delicious roe. I know roe isn’t the healthiest thing around but a shellful of the stuff shouldn’t hurt.

Eating the crab is actually hard work. At least it is more meaty than other crab I have eaten. There also have this thing called goose barnacles. Now, that is something I have never tried before. It is actually a crustacean. Somehow I was under the impression that it was a mollusk. As you know barnacles are the type which stay in one place. Honestly, they don’t look edible at all. In fact, they look gross but it seems that when in Portugal, you need to try this. Once I got the nerve to try, it turned out to be okay. You are supposed to twist the shell and pull out the meat which is the edible part. The leathery neck is not edible either. Once you get past that, it was actually no different from eating clams. In fact, the texture if much like it complete with the taste of the sea. If I had any regret in coming to Cervejaria Ramiro, it would be that I didn’t eat enough stuff. The giant prawn from the other table was really very tempting but I was already fighting to finish up my crab. Perhaps, I could come here next time with friends.

Cervejaria Ramiro
Av. Almirante Reis nº1 – H,
1150-007 Lisboa, Portugal
+351 21 885 1024

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