Casa Lisboa Portuguese Restaurant & Bar  

Even though most Hong Kong-ers would head to Macau for massive Portuguese feasts, here in Central we have our very own Portuguese spot.

I adore the heavy flavours of Spanish and Portuguese cuisine, and Casa Lisboa used to be the restaurant of my choice for some roasted suckling pink or a creamy Serradura. Owned by veteran restaurateur, Carmelo Lopez, who brought us Ole Spanish Restaurant & Wine Bar, Casa Lisboa is the place for honest, traditional Portuguese dishes.

Conveniently situated in LKF Tower, the offerings in Casas Lisboa are generous and reliable. There is a 3-course set lunch for $168, which allows you to pick any appetiser, main course and dessert from the à la carte menu, and also comes with coffee/tea. After not stepping foot in the restaurant for half a year, I was delighted to find that the high standards of the food have been maintained!

(1) For appetisers, the Seafood cream soup and the Octopus salad with lime oil were simple and marvellous. The soup was full of flavours and had a robust portion of fresh and tender clams, and the octopus in the salad was well marinated and wholesome.(2) The appetisers were followed by the Grouper with a crust of seafood, which was freshly brought to us from the kitchen. The grouper was beautifully char-grilled on the outside, and it was still warm and succulent on the inside. The fish was then drizzled with lemon juice, and served with grilled veggies cooked in broth on the side.(3) Then came one of my favourite dishes, the Roasted suckling pig Bairrada style! This is a reduced portion of the à la carte dish, and the amazingly crispy skin of a suckling pig always brings a smile to my face! Underneath the skin, the pork meat was still moist and indulgently soft. It was served with some Portuguese rice on the side, which was soft and delicious, with dices of chorizo which added not only meaty flavours but also a fantastic bite.(4) After that, we had some steak cooked in two different ways. The first was the Steak Portuguese Style, which was fabulously char-grilled, and had a nice and firm texture. The thickness of the steak was just right, and the potato chips on the side could be dipped in the meat jus. The second one was Beef with 3 pepper sauce or mushroom sauce. This steak was just as good as the Steak Portuguese Style, but it was instead cooked in a mushroom sauce, and was cutely adorned with boiled choy sum and a sunny side up. The mushroom sauce was creamy and delicious, and did not overpower the slightly fatty steak.(5) The Apple crumble with vanilla ice cream (top left) had fantastically crunchy and buttery crumble on top, and the apple was thinly sized, which made the flavours more delicate. The cinnamon taste was very subtle, but it tasted fine to me. The Traditional Portuguese chocolate cake (top right) had excellent taste, with the perfect balance of bitterness and sweetness and strong, delightful chocolate flavours. The Portuguese egg pudding with ice cream (middle right) was fluffy, soft and delectable, and I loved how it was slightly burned on the surface! Last but not least, my beloved Serradura, which was made with sweetened biscuit, egg and cream. Even though there were not enough biscuit bits, which rendered the texture a bit plain, the Serradura was scrumptiously creamy and I certainly enjoyed every spoonful! With delightful Portuguese food only at around $200 per head for lunch and $300-400 per head for dinner, Casa Lisboa is a fantastic venue for foodie gatherings with friends!

Been there for weekday lunch which was about $150 per person for 3 courses coffee or tea. Portion is good for lunch and get good value for the. We had suckling pig, lamb chops, chicken and steak - all of it taste good. Been there again for dinner. Appetizers a but small but the main courses are large, especially the suckling pig !! For 5 people we had 4 appetizers, 5 mains and 2 bottles of wine costing $550 each and it all tasted good.

Another birthday dinner with 2 friends, thank you!

Didn't even realize this restaurant although I've been to the others in the same building, including my favorite GOLD. Just finished a business event at Azure, with control to have only 1 glass of white wine to avoid losing appetide. When I arrived, wow, I love the interior design, very cozy with native waitress and live music performance. It's Monday and only another table of 2 were there, felt like we booked the whole place, very nice.

My friend has been here several times and high recommended, he was responsible to order...Everything was delicious there, especially the suckling pig and the rice with duck, very delicious The presentation of sausage was interestin.

I ate a lot that night, plus a nice bottle of white wine, satisfied.

Service was good, the manager came over to chat with us, and the live performance sang us a song...happy! A good place for gathering!

Group gathering dinner planned at this Portuguese Rstu last Friday night after Happy Hour drinks in LKF, definitely a good call for restaurant selection We arrived at about 8:45pm, and since our group had 14 participants, we proceeded to fill the table with pitchers of Sangria and more food than we could finish. The 2 dishes that were my favorite after sampling a multitude of choices was the stuffed baked crab shell, and the roast suckling pig. the crab meat was fresh and well flavored with just thte right amout of cream and cheeze sauce, baked to a golden brown on top layer and still juicy inside the shell. The suckling pig was chunks of juicy and tender pork with a perfectly crispy layer of skin on top that gave it just the right crunch. I used to think the same dish served at Ole was the best in HK, after tasting the dish here, i feel i might have to re-evaluate There was some fatty parts in between the meat and crispy skin still intack, but not enough to actually warrent the effort to seperate and try to remove; it blended well with the over all taste of the pork. Almost 2 hours later, we did our best to finish all the dishes we ordered....sated on sangria and food, the general consensus was another dinner gathering need to be scheduled at this restaurant in the near future !

Having deserted Central for Wanchai for a couple of years, I now delegate the responsibility of picking a restaurant to my "Central" friends. Lunch today was a good choice, so thanks, R.

While I was pleased to find that there were many choices to choose from for the set lunch, I was also distracted by so many different dishes that I wanted to try. On my friend's recommendation, I picked the potato soup with chorizo and the suckling pig as main course.

Since I was much engrossed in our conversation - a lot of catching up to do - I have to confess that I neither paid any attention to what my friend ordered, nor asked how the dishes were.....

Back to the food. The soup was a bit of a let-down; I would have preferred something thicker and richer, and definitely with more pieces of chorizo rather than the one solitary chorizo floating on top.

The sucking pig looked delicious and tasted delicious: tender, moist, flavourful. The rice that accompanied it was also very tasty. However, it was not perfect. I really looked forward to munching the crunchy skin but instead met with a tough and rubbery skin. I huffed and I puffed and i attacked it with all my might but this little piglet skin was impenetrable! I gave up. Ordinarily, that flaw alone could have destroyed the dish but since the meat and the rice were so yummy, I'd be lenient in my judgment this time.The dessert I picked on the recommendation of the waitress was chocolate cake and it was good, chocolately without being too sweet or too cloying. I am sufficiently pleased with my lunch to want to come back for dinner... and another stab at that roast pig.

Services
The chef was very proactive and greeted us before we ordered any food and gave us recommendations. In fact he came out to check if things were in order with us a few times during the dinner. He is very friendly and nice and gave us a very comfortable and cozy feeling. The wait staffs are also nice and responsive but may need a bit of training in handling wine. What's happened was that one bottle of Bourdeaux is moderately old and there are residuals at the bottom but when she was pouring towards the end, she simply poured like it was water - bottom's up. Obviously she did not do it on purpose though. Overall we are happy with the services.

Food
The suckling pig is real good! The chef also recommended the whole chicken and it was also nice and juicy. In fact all food are good but the dessert are not impressive when comparing to the food side by side. Something that can improve we think. Bottle water is served and fortunately they are not expensive. Fair deal!

Environment
It is warm and cozy. The live guiter is also nice as it is not too noisy and one can still chat comfortably while the guiter was being played. It is good both for couple and for friends gathering.

Corkage is $250 per bottle and there is no discount or waiver to additional bottles that was opened. If corkage charge can be reduced, I will go there more often.

Decorated with traditional Portugueses styles, this restaurant has a welcome and cozy setting. Walk in with live guitar music (2 performers who play throughout the night), and warm service. During dinner, the young chef has came to greet and ask for comments in a friendly manner. Nice atmosphere for good food and gathering with friends and family.

Menu of the night (for 6):
Bread: Warm white flour buns served with duo butter flavor (herbs & sundried tomato) and cheese (light flavor white cheese); marinated pig ears taster
~Really nice and warm buns, hightens the butter spread flavor (the spread itself is not outstanding)

Drinks: Sangria
~too much ice, which reduced the flavor overall

Starter:
Flaming Sausage
~ interesting to see it served, the sauage is towards dry and hard texture

Tuna Salad (similar to Niçoise salad, with boiled eggs & olives)
~ light mix with vinegrette, taste is not outstanding yet the boiled eggs were done perfect, cooked just right.

Sauteed Shrimp with garlic
~ very fresh and plum shrimps, cooked just right with a nice meaty texture; garlic favor did not cover the frest taste of the shrimp. nicely done.

Main Course:
Suckling pig:
~ The well-roasted skin has a great crunch, the meat is tender - right off the bones but still have the nice pork meaty flavor and chew to it. Saltness is right on, Well done!
~ Sides: chips (get soft very soon, so must eat when served; rice is tasty as well)

Duck Rice:
~ flavorful and not too salty; harder then regular white rice that we eat at chinese restaurants

Bacalhau 馬介休 baked with shrimp, in a starchy white sauce covered with melted cheese
~ homey fish dish, the sauce goes really well with the fish, yet a bit too salty

Portuguese Chicken, in a light non creamy spicy curry sauce, with cook to soft potatos
~ Potatoes are fantastic! Soaked up the light sauce which makes you want more. Spiciness is weak/medium.

Will for sure dine here again, and looking forward to try the lobster seafood rice, which you could smell from across the table.

The innovative young chef Martinho is from Portugal. He tells me of his aspirations and it is admirable.
With a young inspired chef, one really should try the dishes as he thinks you should have, and also go for dinner to get a true tasting of the chef's offerings.
Lunch is always a distorted view for me. At the set lunch price, and when food cost is only 30 to 40% of menu price, what kind of ingredients can the chef put into a lunch?
This restaurant is owned by one of Hong Kong's most successful restaurateurs. Before the Lisboa, this site at LKF Tower was a Mexican restaurant, under the same ownership. But it did not do well and Lisboa rose and took its place. So financial success must have been top of mind this time around. Therefore, the young chef is torn between introducing his innovative yet classic dishes to Hong Kong, and on the other hand having to produce a number of actually Macanese dishes. Unfortunately, if you do not let the chef choose his dishes for you, the chances are that you will have chosen those Macanese dishes just out of familiarity. The flaming sausage is one such example, and I suspect duck rice is another. Those are not the dishes that Martinho would want you to have. But they will stay on the menu as long as people keep ordering them.
Salt cod is very important to the Portuguese diet. Martinho does a number of dishes around that. I also tried a garlic shrimp starter upon his recommendation. At the time of ordering I had low expectation of this, thinking it would be like the tasteless version from a hundred other tapas bars. But it had a deep garlic taste. Very impressive indeed.
Most of Hong Kong's Portuguese restaurants are offering Macau food. Casa Lisboa is a rarity. We should support this young chef by going for dinner and ordering the chef's own favorites.
The ambience is conservative, with a bit of Spanish / Mexican / Portuguese feel to it. It is not bad. The band plays Spanish songs. What can I say. It is like the old Amigo 40 years ago and all over again.

My colleague told me the sucking pig here is delicious. However, I decided to try their duck rice instead.

Both the apetizer and main course were good. For my duck rice, it was a bit oily, but I guess it has to be oily being a spainish / portugese dish.

The desserts were however very disappointing. I am already not into dessert, but those desserts simply tasted awful. notwithstanding their rather attractive looks.

We had a late dinner and we were starving when we got there, so the bread was very impressive to us already It was piping hot and the tuna/cheese/herbed butter spread was a great start. We had the following:

Flambe chorizo-cooked in front of us in ceramic pig, very cute and tasty.
Stuffed Crab- a MUST EAT, super tasty.
Pumpkin soup-good but too filling. I prefer the seafood soup
Seafood soup- was good but was cold when served
Sucking pig - MUST EAT, crispiest skin and most tender meat, served on a bed of fried rice. This dish really sealed the deal for me.
Portuguese Chicken Rice - my boyfriend said it was good

We basically overordered so had to miss dessert. Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves especially with the owner mingling about and the 2 guitarist playing live.
The staff were very warm and welcoming but still needed training or they might be understaffed as they gave us soup without spoons and not clearing plates etc, the wait between starter and main course was almost 20mins, but once they noticed the wait they were quick to follow up for us. I would definately come back for the great food and warm atmostphere, but dinner is quite pricey, after reading the other lunch reviews, lunch is quite a steal so I am looking forward to returning soon.

Great price for a 5 course lunch where you can order almost all courses from the a la carte menu.

Unfortunately service is fairly poor as the waiting time for main course was rather long and a number of tables had been complaining. But apart from that, food quality is good for a $138 meal in central.

LKF tower is always a building of choice when I've no idea where I should go. Casa Lisboa, a name you can immediately connect to Portugal, had been on my list-to-visit for two weeks since I noticed that when I had had happy hour at the Brew House.

Atmosphere:
Very relaxed, with dimmed and soothing light. We (2 of us) sat at the corner of the main dining area. They also have a private room, which is good for private function.

They have live guitar music there and the owner, if he is there, sings for the patrons (he is a good singer)

Food
Pork Sausageflambee - $105
The is basically grilled chorizo, but prepared in front of you. It's exciting to see the waitress preparing that in front of you, and certainly draws the attention of other patrons around your table. The chorizo has strong smokey flavour, and it goes exceptionally well with raw garlic. It certainly open your appetite for the coming dishes.

I don't recall this dish being served in Nino's Cozinha, another Portuguese restaurant serving authentic Portuguese dishes in Hong Kong.

Seafood Soup - $60
I didn't try it myself but according to my friend, the fish flavour goes very well with the creamy tomato base. The parsley also brings the aroma into another level. There are chunky seafood pieces in the soup, such as fish and prawn.

Pig Ear Salad - $65
Another dish that opens your appetite. The citrus and spicy flavour are the prefect match to the pig ear. Everything is chopped into small pieces and perfect for enjoying it without using a knife. There is also a big piece of pig ear laid in the bottom and it brings the wow factor when you get to the bottom of the plate. A very smart execution.

Many places serve salad in chunky pieces. Yes, it may look better but the sauce and flavour are also more difficult to get on the green. I just love how they serve it in here, like "just salad" in Central.

Lobster Seafood Rice - $390
It looks very nice and it certainly worths to wait for 30 minutes. To many people in Hong Kong, the flavour may be too strong and salty but that's how the Portuguese serve their dishes.

The lobster is very fresh, so are the prawn and mussel. The lobster meat is tender and juicy and the rice absorbed all the flavour of different seafood, and it's just great. Although the rice may be a little bit overcooked and become a bit mushy, it is still great.

In terms of execution, I'd still prepare the seafood rice by St. Antonio Restaurant in Macao, but for a Portuguese restaurant in Hong Kong, it's just exceptional.

We also ordered House White ($35 per glass), but since I am not an expert of wine, I would not comment on the quality of it. It is, however, fruity and easy to drink.

Before we were ready to go, the owner came over and we held a short conversation together. This restaurant is owned by the owner of Ole Spanish Restaurant, which is 5 minutes walk from this restaurant. He said he opened this Portuguese restaurant with the same philosophy as he runs Ole (a restaurant I like a lot). Basically, it's great food made of fresh ingredient, served in a comfy environment. He hired the Portuguese chef, who also came over afterward, and asked for our comments on the food. The chef commented on the strong flavour especially, and said he wants to bring the real authentic flavour to people in Hong Kong, so he tries to keep the strong salty flavour as in his home country.

In a nutshell, this dinner is well worth the price, and it'll absolutely be revisited by me.

It was not a buzy day but obviuosly the service was far from satisfactory.
Dishes was served in a rush manner and they mixed up our orders with other table's again and again. the waitresses were also very impolite and rude. all waitresses had a stone face while my friend was speaking to me with an unfinished soup, the waitress just grasped the bowl without asking him whether it was done or not. asking for adding water was also pain in the ass. i had to wait for 10 mins to get my water refilled.
food was just okay but price was definitely not justified.

Was going to lunch with a friend in some other place in LFK but that restaurant was fully booked, so we just randomly picked this one...

It was unexpectedly outstanding...It about $150 per person for 3-set lunch course. You can choose any soup / salad, any main course, any dessert from the A la Carte Menu. It comes with bread and some Olives for appetizer. The bread served hot and I think it’s the most important part. I am not olives fans, so I never tried.

We both had chosen Seafood Cream Soup which is average.

Main Course we ordered Sizzling Pig and Portuguese Duck Rice. Both are very good and tasty….

Dessert we picked Portuguese Cake w/ Ice Cream. I think is average as well.

Overall, I think it’s a very good place for lunch and price is very reasonable.