Café Nacional

It’s still enticing clients – making their mouths water and eyes widen with anticipation. All you have to do is look at the display cabinet! On the walls, blackboards proclaim breakfast, lunch and snack menus – but our host informs us that times are hard.

People have less and less money to spend on eating out at lunchtimes, and everyone’s feeling the pinch.

The dining room, with its heavy wooden benches holds a certain nostalgia now that it doesn’t fill up as it did in the past.

But the management is far from chucking in the towel. Since last month, the old Café Nacional has been offering gourmet homemade hamburgers to reel in new clients.

They’re 200 grams of 100 per cent beef and served with real homemade chips on the side (no frozen nonsense).

There are five choices: with cheese and onion, pepper sauce, Portuguese-style (with an egg fried in olive oil), with mushrooms and Nacional-style (that’s with mustard). The price is the same for all: €5.99. Another novelty is the kiosk inside – a reminder of the times when they still sold news in newspapers…

Specialities: traditional confectionary, light meals/ snacks; Hours: Open every day: Closes at 8pm during the week and 10pm at weekends (midnight in the summer); Owner: J. Borges e Agostinho, Lda; NIF 500 143 684.