Nice restaurant in Lisbon to celebrate birthday with a fussy eater

[franinmuc]

I will be visiting Lisbon in September and since my birthday will be on the day we arrive, I am looking for a nice restaurant to celebrate with my parents and family (not necessarily on our day of arrival). I'd like to go somewhere nice but my daughter is really picky. Ordinarily I would leave her in the apartment but since it is a birthday celebration, that's not possible. She'll eat a plain steak, roast chicken and probably plain fish but forget about the sauces and fancy veggies. Do restaurants offer child menus? I've been reading all the recommendations on this site, especially those by vinhotinto75 but for those where I was able to find a website, I wasn't exactly sure if they would just serve us a simple steak or whatever. O Faz Figura was the only one which specifically had a child's menu and looks really nice. I also liked their tasting menus.
Does anyone have any other suggestions?

[Parigi]

Your celebratory dinner sounds like a great idea. Congratulations.
Instead of making everyone compromise in the choice of restaurants, would you consider feeding the fussy eater before dinner, then you won't have to worry about what she won't eat, and go to a fabulous restaurant of your choice? Making everyone go to a restaurant that has a child's menu that happens to coincide with your daughter's narrowly focused dietary habits does not sound like much of a celebration to me.

[vinhotinto75]

You will not find children's menus in Portugal, yet there are tons of restaurants where they can either scale down a dish or cook something special to order. A simple steak and fries is very common and easy to find in more casual and fine dining establishments.

A simple steak, grilled steak, or grilled fish is VERY easy to come by, so need not worry. One place that I might recommend is Kaetano's in Graça. They have a website, yet is in Portuguese and I would be happy to help if you had questions. They do indeed have meat, game, fish, and a tasting menu that might be of interest.

Some other places that are very nice (more fine dining) and where they would be willing to accomodate:

Lisboa à Noite (Bairro Alto)
Sinal Vermelho (Bairro Alto and owned by the same people as the adjacent Lisboa à Noite)
Café São Bento (São Bento - known for the Steak and Frites)
Senhora Mãe (Alfama)
Via Graça (Graça)

If I can be of help in any way, please let me know.

Boa Sorte!

[franinmuc]

Thanks for your reply, Vinhotinto75. We've rented an apartment in Graca just a stone's throw from Via Graca and Kaetano's. I can more or less make out what the portuguese website says cos I had a few months of portuguese lessons - although I am far from being able to carry out a conversation. I also liked the look of Senhora Mae.
I am going to ask you a difficult and perhaps, unfair question - if you were celebrating your 50th bday, which would you choose? At first I thought Via Graca (I read the view is better than the food) but then we have the same view from our apartment window - it's only around the corner. So perhaps based on food and ambiance, which one should we go to.
Muito obrigado!
PS. What cut of meat is vazia. Lombo is tenderloin, right?

[vinhotinto75]

That is a very tough call since the view at Via Graça is quite nice and when the food is on, it is fantastic!

Kaetano's doesn't have the view, but the food and service is generally excellent for fantastic prices. I think both will be good and will be willing to scale down a dish for your daughter.

Here are some other options (aside from the ones above) that might be worth seeking, although they are outside of Graça and are great for a special occasion:

Quinta dos Frades
http://www.quintadosfrades.com/

Restaurante Tágide
http://www.restaurantetagide.com/

There are also tons of more upscale and trendy places in the Bairro Alto and Chiado, but to be quite honest, I usually find the food and service rather mediocre in many of those places.

Make sure you eat at the Churrasco da Graça as well as have a bica or pastry at the pastelaria in the Largo da Graça (picture of outside below). I like to go up there on Sunday mornings to get a coffee and pastel de nata and then take a walk!

Oh, and yes, lombo is the cut from the loin, so it can often refer to pork loin or even tenderloin. Bife de Vazia generally refers to a sirloin steak.

Boa Sorte and again, feel free to ask questions!

[franinmuc]

Thanks once again for all your suggestions and the clarification about the cuts of meat, Vinhotinto75. Probably go to Via Graca. I'll check it out once we arrive. Have already taken note of Churrasco da Graca and the pasteleria. I'll definitely make the effort to visit them! Muito obrigado.

[miravata]

Hello Vinhotinto,

I am travelling to lisbon for the first time on 5th of July for 5 days. I was amazed by the abundance of information on restaurants that you delivered on this site..and a bit dizzy because I cannot make a choice since I don't know Lisbon at all. Briefly, me and my husband are going to stay at Corinthia Lisboa which I understand is in the financial district near Chiado? Please, please can you give me some recommandations of like 10 restaurants in the near area of the hotel? Since we don't have a car , would be nice to know we can always grab dinner somewhere near the hotel. We are very much into fish ( grilled sardines-my favourites), seafood but my husband can also appreciate a suckling pig. We are looking for cheap to moderate restaurants, we don't want to pay fortunes for meals. Some local wines if you could recommand as well would be so much appreciated!
The reason I joined the site was solely to get in contact with you.
Looking very much forward to your reply and thank you so much,
Mira