Lisbon’s best cocktail bars (if you ask us)
Cocktail bars in Lisbon. Our personal guide.
Abracadabra! Sang Paulo de Carvalho in the 1980s, a few years before the Pavilhão Chinês opened its doors and amazed many people with its five decorated rooms and neat service and menu.
Two decades later, the Abracadadra effect remains.
Two decades later, the Abracadadra effect remains.
If you like cocktails and have cocktail bars on your itinerary in Lisbon, there is one place that all tourist guides recommend: Pavilhão Chinês in Príncipe Real. We like the place and don’t mind going there. Especially when we are a group of friends because Chinese Pavilion has is big with lots of corners to hide groups.
It’s definitely worth a visit and we do recommend it. But at the same time we warn people about the crowds-with-cameras that sometimes flood the place – especially during the high season.
Customers can enjoy A Paródia's two rooms, but the second was only opened in 1976, in the space of an old grocery store. "At that time, we are told, things in political terms were still a little bit troubled and so the people on the right would sit in the room on the right side and the people on the left in the room on the left side, so as not to create friction."
We are not big cocktail drinker
… but now and then we like one or two at home – or as a welcome drink when we fine dine.
And sometimes we even ask each other: Shouldn’t we go out for a cocktail?
So where do we go when that happens?
Everything depends on the settings and the crowd. International Hotels are often too pretentious and stylish. Of course there are exceptions – like The Library Bar at Plaza in Copenhagen, The Strand in Myanmar or The Raffles in Singapore who all has the cozy and relaxed ambiance we like so much – the kind of ambiance you find in Harry’s New York Bar in Paris (aka Harry’s Bar). Those kind of places are a little harder to find. But we have one. Like the small and intimate Paródia which we found in Campo de Ourique when we researched location for Tings Lisbon. That place is one of our favourite bars.
As Campo de Ourique is a bit far away from us, we usually go to one of the newer and younger cocktail bars that has opened in our hood after we opened Tings. Vlada Lounge next to the Arroios Market or our two new darlings: The fantastic and lively Cafe Klandestino in Intendente or brand new Onda Cocktail Bar 2 minutes from us.
Procópio was the first space in Lisbon founded by Luis Pinto Coelho, in 1972, and it quickly began to be frequented by figures such as Mário Soares, Sá Carneiro or Raul Solnado.
“During the scorching times of the revolution, it was on those nights that everything happened at Procopio. Undercover journalists lined up waiting to get on the phone to inform the editors of everything that was whispered there." Alice Pinto Coelho, Luís's ex-wife and mother of his three children (two girls and one boy), likes to remember those times at the bar near the Jardim das Amoreiras. When they parted, shortly after opening the bar, she was the one who took over the space, while her ex-husband already had his head in "A Parodia"
“During the scorching times of the revolution, it was on those nights that everything happened at Procopio. Undercover journalists lined up waiting to get on the phone to inform the editors of everything that was whispered there." Alice Pinto Coelho, Luís's ex-wife and mother of his three children (two girls and one boy), likes to remember those times at the bar near the Jardim das Amoreiras. When they parted, shortly after opening the bar, she was the one who took over the space, while her ex-husband already had his head in "A Parodia"
Another place we keep returning to is Procoppio which our local journalist friend introduced us to. It has the same vibe and ambiance as the smaller Parodia, just a little more stylish…
Why has nobody introduced us to Luís Pinto Coelho?
Luís Pinto Coelho (with his ex) reminds me a lot of one of the Strecker Bros in the 70s & 80s
In Copenhagen in the 80s Brødrene Strecker (The Strecker brothers) ruled Copenhagen’s nightlife with a handful of very popular bars. They were all very different – still you could always feel they somehow belonged to the same persons.
That feeling hit me a few months ago when our friend – introduced us to Fox Trot just around the corner from his flat in Príncipe Real.
Strange I thought to myself when I took a sip of my drink and looked around. Fox Trot reminded me something. And haven’t I seen the gentleman behind the counter before?
Now I am pretty sure I have! Behind the counter in Pavilhão Chinês. And maybe also at Procoppio. These 3 bars PLUS our favorite Paródia are all created by the same guy: Luís Pinto Coelho.
Cheers & Enjoy
Thomas
Here you find our cocktail bars