SOLAR 31 || This is Where We Had the Tastiest Lobster Rice in Lisbon
A Lisbon restaurant menu commonly includes grilled Octopus, Octopus rice, cod in various ways, and…lobster rice.
We had our chance to try a variety of seafood rice dishes while on vacation in Lisbon, and we’ve got to say that our favourite lobster rice was from Solar 31. We had spent the day climbing the city's seven hills. On our back to the Alfama neighbourhood, our Uber driver recommended we stop by a popular Fado restaurant street — Rua dos Remédios. For those who don’t know what Fado houses are, it’s where you can enjoy your dinner to live music, Fado music, a popular genre in Lisbon characterized by its expressive, melancholic tunes.
After examining the menus at several restaurants, we decided to try Solar 31, and we’re glad we did! Although this bright and cozy dining space didn’t have Fado music, they had some delicious seafood on the menu.
From the outside of the restaurant you can’t tell that the dining space extends quite far back and there is also a lower level to host guests.
When in Portugal make sure to have all the seafood you can!
What can you expect if you dine here? As with other Lisbon restaurants, mostly it’s seafood, seafood, and more seafood! For our appetizers, we had some juicy oysters and razor clams. The razor clams were the highlight for me; simply cooked in butter and garlic, the cooking technique let the freshness of the seafood shine through.
Every grilled octopus dish we had in Lisbon was delicious.
As mentioned, grilled octopus is a common dish you’ll find on the menu and usually comes in a generous portion. The dish pictured was a great share plate for three people in our travel party who loved octopus. Again, simply cooked and sitting on a bed of fresh greens, the seafood takes center stage; cut it up into hearty chunks to share!
This was our fourth day in Lisbon, so we knew you can’t go wrong with grilled octopus. What we didn’t know much about was the lobster rice, but the menu description sounded scrumptious, so we decided to give it a try. In Portugal, these pots and pans of rice usually come in portions for two, although we’ve also seen some restaurants offer portions for one. As pictured below, the lobster rice we ordered was forty-five euros, and the portion was sizeable enough for the four of us to split it along with the other dishes we ordered. The creamy texture with finely chopped chives and fresh greens on top enhanced the already mouth-watering scent of this dish. The texture resembles paella, Spain’s national dish, but is slightly more creamy. We already miss the heavenly taste of the large chunks of fresh lobster between mouthfuls of rice. If you happen to visit Lisbon, make sure you stop by for a satisfying seafood meal you won’t soon forget!
You must try this lobster rice.
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R. dos Remédios 64, 1100-345 Lisboa, Portugal
Photography by Florence Leung
