Our 2 weeks in Portugal is sadly coming to an end, and Michelle and I have really fallen in love with this country. Its history is so immense and rich, with beautiful cathedrals on nearly every street corner of every city, the easygoing culture, and truly hospitable and welcoming people. We ended back in Lisbon for a couple more days where we are flying out of and stayed with our same Airbnb host as the last time. Naturally we had a night out in Bairro Alto to celebrate our time here, and I'm now nursing a bottle of water at the airport. Before arriving at the airport however, I made one final stop and I'm sure it's a no-brainer guessing where that might be.
Our Airbnb was about 10 minutes north of Rossio Square in walking distance, and all along his street line small grocery stores and fast food restaurants. We've had to constantly walk by a small restaurant called Comida Halal (talk about a blending of cultures...) and the small pictures of the food on the menu had me salivating from the beginning. I thought that this would be the best option at 10:30 in the morning before heading to the airport so I pulled the trigger.
Comida Halal had mostly kebab and fish wraps, but also had falafel on the menu, as well as Portuguese pastries and desserts, coffee, and alcohol. It's nice to have options. The man behind the counter was very sweet and looked of Middle Eastern descent, not speaking much English. Nevertheless, I ordered a falafel wrap which came with lettuce, tomato, carrots, and onion for 3 Euro. So cheap for a great amount of food.
The consensus: very good! A little dry because again, no hummus, but the falafel was definitely made from chick peas which is my jam. Presentation featured below, one bite taken before realizing to take a picture. The atmosphere was also nice with a couple of tables inside, as well as a few tables on the sidewalk which we noticed is always flooded with people post drinking all night. In this case, it was the morning after meal and I couldn't have enjoyed it more.
Maybe I'm not looking in the right places or consulting TripAdvisor enough, but the restaurants that do have falafel in this first month of travels have been touristy and not very authentic in terms of ingredients and what the falafel comes with. It's been hard to find any Middle Eastern or Mediterranean influenced restaurants that would be more authentic, but I've been in Western Europe and Northern Africa for the majority of my time, so not necessarily falafel hubs. I haven't had any hummus in over 30 days and I could seriously cry. I'm about to board a flight with a layover in Dubai however, so we'll see what I can find before a week and a half experiencing the Golden Triangle - Jaipur, Agra, and Dehli, India!! See yall in Asia where I'll finally be in possession of a cellular device, hallelujah!
