Text José Silva

Lisbon’s town center seethes with life and bars and restaurants open and re-open all the time, after restoration or changing hands, responding to a huge and heterogeneous clientele, where the weight of foreigners is bigger all the time.

Portugal is fashionable and Lisbon, the capital, leads the search from people that come from all over the world, during the whole year, to appraise the good things we have, thatfortunately are still a lot. And one of our riches is our kitchen, with a vast cookbook from north to south and a fantastic variety for such a small country.

We have great quality products, internationally recognized and wanted. The fish from our coast are one of those products, served all over the country, in restaurants of several classes. One of those restaurants, right in the center of Lisbon, is serving very fresh fish, always from the Peniche fish market, along with a variety of seafood.

It is in Loreto Street, quite close to Camões square, and it used to be one of the many shoe shops that were abundant there, that has been intelligently recovered into a restaurant where they almost only serve fresh fish and seafood: the restaurant “Sea Me, Modern Fish Shop”.

There, there is imagination, good taste, products of first quality, modern cooking underlining the freshness of the products and there is a blend of good mood and humor. But let´s describe the place, which is somewhat long and narrow, with a small shop window at the entrance, through which a variety of products go through, which may be a type of beer or wine or some tempting fresh oysters, inviting us to eat them at once.

Next, on the left side, a large balcony, where you can also eat a quick meal or hang in there eating titbits and drinking, wasting time, through the night. A small step separates this space from the main room, a little bit larger, dressed with simplicity, a huge L shaped balcony at the bottom that shows, on the back, the big kitchen, displaying everything, and at the real bottom, leaning forward, a huge shop window with sea food and fresh fish, properly identified, that we can choose from, if we want to.

And with so many fresh fish every day, you can also eat wonderful sushi there.

But we can always count on the help from the ones who know and can guide us so that we may have an excellent meal. Wooden tables are dressed in a very simple way and young and qualified personnel, charming and attentive, are in charge of service, and properly explain to us each dish that arrives at the table. Wine service is impeccable, both in the glasses and in temperatures and the restaurant is always full, at lunch and dinner.

In this visit, bread came to the table and a variety of very tasty titbits, some of them not so usual.

Slightly toasted scallops with mango tartar and salt flower, very tasty, well done, some sushi pieces prepared with that fish so fresh, some pieces of sardine sushi with grilled chili pepper.

Codfish with chickpea salad, fried cuttlefish in black tempura and shiso sheet, some perplexing fish sea bass and seaweed Japanese salad, citrus and avocado sauce.

At last a fish mixed grill, with huge squids and sea bass, also with squids Bulhão Pato style, all in the company of boiled potatoes, a variety of boiled vegetables and a generous portion of olive oil to irrigate the fish.

We finished with crème caramel, the traditional way.

Some wines that the group brought were drank, between whites and reds that had been put at the correct temperatures, for our delight…
In the center of Lisbon, fresh fish at our table.

Contacts
Sea Me Restaurant
Rua do Loreto 21
1200-049 Lisboa
Tel.: (+351) 213 461 564/565
Fax: (+351) 213 461 566
E-mail: geral@peixariamoderna.com
Site: www.peixariamoderna.com