Anfora - Lisboa

Good food and corteous waiter. Unfortunately the meal was ruined by the fact that the dining room was unbearably hot. The air conditioning was not working properly and no one seemed to care about this before we raised the problem. After we did, someone showed up acting as if he were looking into the situation but the temperature remained almost as high as before. No one bothered to offer any feedback or explanation.

Located in a historic building, Palacio do Governador hotel is an oasis in the middle of the city. We had planned on having a quick lunch but the setting was so welcoming that we ended up staying all afternoon and having afternoon tea as well. As the menu offered at Anfora restaurant is only available for dinner we had the menu from the bar. Pictures speak for themselves.

The service was impeccable, matching the stylish setting and decorations! We loved the food tasty and very well explained by the waiter. The wine recommendation was also very good. The pricing was also very reasonable considering the high quality and service!

Tricky to find using maps but once there the more than accommodating hotel staff escorted us to the restaurant we had not booked but were lucky enough to get a table. A committed wait team, who were charismatic, knowledgable and willing to share information on all food that was ordered prevailed. The next 2 hours was a food experience an interesting amuse bouche with local bread, olive oil and butter followed. The veal steaks, salmon were cooked to perfection, amazing creamed spinach and potatoes arrived in a rich sauce for the steak and seasonal vegetables alongside garlic/truffle mash for the salmon. Deserts were fun but also well executed, with the winner being apple mousse with caramel causing quite a stir both visually and gustatory. Such a great find and well worth a visit having been to Porto, Barcelona as well as Lisbon on this trip with multiple restaurant visits, Anfora pips the other restaurants to the post just!

The place is very close to the Tower of Belem situated within the ancient palace of the regional governor (thus the name of the hotel). One can see parts of the excavations outside of the hotel and a wall close to the restaurant itself is from that time as well. Our dinner started at around 7.30pm local time and most tables were still unoccupied (that changed later on, but the place never felt crowded). I had the impression that the waiters did not just behave friendly, but really were. They could provide us with very helpful suggestions for food, taking our preferences into account. I especially remember the sommelier who knew his cellar very well and obviously wanted to help us enjoy the evening (fantastic choice of wine, fine sense of humor, but never obtrusive). We had a full course dinner, mainly based on seafood (they have non sea food as well). Some of the choices seemed more like traditional food, some were more modern. What I really enjoyed was that the cook managed to keep the different flavours apart from each other within the same meal each bite offered a wide variety of tastes! If I return to Lisbon, this is certainly a place to visit again!