11/21/2010 Gambrinus, drinks, Lisboa Portugal

Way back when i was in school i also was a member of the youth orchestra. i made many friends during my time in that orchestra and thanks to a particular social website i've refound a number of them. many of them i've learned have stayed in the music business. 1 of these friends is a bass player. (that's him being totally him with me  in the picture. He's currently the principal base player of the Orquesta Sinfonica de Galicia in spain. i let him know when we were going to be over there and we initially thought we'd meet up in barcelona. then in november he decided to take a 3 week job in lisboa as assistant principal with his friend in the Gulbenkian Orchestra so we decided to meet up there instead. hey, it works, right?

So we met up for drinks at our hotel 1st where matt had a portuguese beer.  i had a glass of wine and i think todd had the same. then we decided to walk a few blocks over to this place Gambrinus that a friend of his (the principal bassist) recommended.  This renowned Lisbon restaurant has an attractive bar and a dining room with a fireplace. Traditional Portuguese specialities, international cuisine and seafood. is what michelin says about them. not starred but they have a mention. and well deserved i think.

smoked swordfish. this was really good. served carpaccio style. there wasn't a scale left when the 3 of us were done with it.

soup of the day: was pretty awesome, too. cream of seafood is the best we got for a name. i'm glad todd shared some of it

again with the table side prep. but you have to admit it's kind of cool. in the states we don't see a lot of that unless it's at a $$$$$$$ place and it's banana's foster or cherries jubilee for dessert, or the occasional fish dish.





the wine we had with dinner.

Fillet of Sole "Gambrinus". spinach, lemon and something else. i must say this was quite tasty. i'd order it if we go back and it's on the menu.

lamb chops provencale. wild rice, roasted garlic and potatos

i had the partridge with chestnuts. which came with a lot of sauce and a rice. i'm not too hip on chestnuts but i had never had partridge before so i had to try it. it wasn't bad but the bird was a little overpowered by the chestnuts.

i must add that in lisboa there were a lot of street vendors roasting chestnuts.

after dinner we went to what is probably the oldest and most famous bar in lisbon. matt and todd had after dinner drinks. i was doing good with all the wine and just had water at this point. it's not a very impressive place, but the people who've had coffee or liquor here are.


the drinks matt and todd had were caiprirnha. lime, sugarcane alcohol and sugar.pretty potent!