Best restaurants in Coimbra

After having talked about the most typical dishes of Portugal and Coimbra, I am going to explain about the best places to eat and drink, whether for typical food from the region or for typical food from all over the world.

First of all, it is important to say that the Portuguese eat a little earlier than the Spanish (but around the same time/ slightly later than the English), that is, they are already eating at 12:30 or 13:00, and at 20:00 they are already having dinner. Just something to keep in mind when going to restaurants because they usually close earlier for both lunch and dinner.

There are many bars and I will speak from the point of view of an Erasmus student, that is, I would say the best bars that are cheap and also offer a good meal. I am also going to mention the places to go to drink a beer, a coffee or to have lunch.

To eat dinner

The first place I am going to talk to you about are the student canteens. Here, they offer a menu for two. There are 50 in which there is a “social refeiçao”, which is a selection of daily dishes that you can have for a set price. There are others, but if you choose to go to them then the price goes up a little (a few euros, but nothing exorbitant and the price rarely goes above 5 euros). As well as the main meal, it can come with a soup, drink and dessert (for the dessert, I recommend trying the "arroz doce", a type of rice pudding that is very good). It's a very peculiar place, but it is very useful for integrating into the student world.

There are more places that are cheap and that Erasmus people often go to, for example: Mozambique. This place is located in Praça da República, and the food is very cheap. Furthermore, you can also go there to study (I personally did not go there because with the people there I couldn't concentrate, but many Portuguese students do) or to watch football. There are many types of dishes, although I recommend trying the garlic bread with cheese and ham (accompanied with some patatas bravas (fried potato wedges, popular in Spain), dinner will cost you less than 5 euros).

There are also the typical chains of bars that you can find anywhere, like 100 Montaditos, Burger King, McDonald's, Pizza Hut or the Telepizza.

Additionally, in the shopping centres, there is often a floor with lots of cheap restaurants to eat and have dinner in.

Then, for typical restaurants you can find the Solar do Bacalhau, a place located in a very touristy area with many bars, very close to the river. Here you will have the option either to choose a menu with very cheap prices, or to try the different dishes that they offer you. The restaurant is very big and pretty, and the food is excellent, so it is a perfect place to go to at least once, especially if you have visitors.

Another very typical place is Zé Manél dos Ossos. If you want to go here you have to keep in mind that it is a very popular place in Coimbra, and also a very smallplace. Along with its policy of not taking reservations, you therefore have to go early. It opens from 7:30pm until 10pm at night, and opens from 12:30 until 3pm for lunch, so you have to go with plenty of time to spare. Here, you can try a lot of very good dishes and the best thing to do, if you are with company, is to ask for different types of dishes to try, but keep in mind that the portions are huge. When I went, there were four of us and we ordered three half portions and half of the food was left over at the end (you can take the leftovers home with you if you want). It is very tasty and very cheap, and it also has very peculiar decorations and very friendly waiters.

I recommend that you try the meat, especially the "chanfana" (stew) and the "cogumelos emporcados" (powdered mushrooms), which was what I liked the most, but everything is delicious.

Another typical bar to go to that stands out for many students also for its atmosphere and its prices is Casa dos Pregos. Here, you can try the typical Pregos (beef sandwiches) but, being a tiny bar, if you do not go in time you won't be able to have dinner or you will have to wait for someone to finish, although you can wait with one of the many beers or cocktails they have to offer.

We also have the "Quim dos Ossos" bar and next to that there is "O Mimo", two typical bars of Coimbra where you will not find luxury, but instead spectacular food at incredible prices, and where everything is delicious.

Finally, although I have not tried this, the Athens restaurant is very typical for its francesinhas (Portuguese sandwich originally from Porto, made with bread, wet-cured ham, linguiça, fresh sausage like chipolata, steak or roast meat, and covered with melted cheese and a hot thick tomato and beer sauce) and is always full of people, so the atmosphere is great.

Then, for places for a lunch or dinner of tapas and things to share, there is Tapas nas Costas, Dux Petiscos e Vinos and Pastelaria & Tapas Marques. The first two are the best, especially the second, though it is a bit more expensive (perfect in the case of people coming to visit you). All three are very tasty, and I would recommend them.

If what you want is to easy well and have good views, then the bar for you is Passaporte. It is located near the river but at the end of a slope, so if you sit on the terrace then you are going to enjoy eating here.

On the other hand, if you want a place to eat that is more elaborate and with beautiful views, you can go to Sapientia Boutique Hotel - Books & Wine. This is a hotel where you will be served both food and cocktails, so you can go at any time and have a wonderful time. Of course, it is more expensive (about 30 euros per person).

Then, another thing that people here usually do is organise "jantares de grupo", which are group dinners. Many restaurants specialise in this and offer you a free food and drink buffet. The best place I've been to of this type is Río Mondego and there are also other places like Allo Pizza.

Now, I'm going to make a list of the burger places I've been to and my order of preference; later, I will explain about only a few of them, because there are so many. The order would be: Honorato, La Vara, Hamburguería de Coimbra, Brunns, Talho Burguer, Guata and Caco.

Honorato is one of the burger places that is near to a shopping centre. It is decorated very nicely and the hamburgers are delicious. If you go, you have to try the sauce that they put over the chips because it it homemade and it is the best thing in the restaurant. It's also a cheap place to eat.

La Vera is a restaurant that is situated on the other side of the river. It's very small and easily fills up because the hamburgers are very good and are quite large. Furthermore, it is very cheap to eat there.

Hamburguería de Coimbra is a popular place here, despite the hamburgers not being that special. They do also have two kinds of chips: normal chips or sweet potato chips, and they have set times when they have offers on drinks and appetisers. Each month they have a new hamburger that changes and, curiously, they have their own beer made here, both dark and blonde, so if you go here do not hesitate to ask for it.

Lastly, there is Brunns. This place seems peculiar from the get-go, because its decoration is very extravagant, full of lights and there are cars in place of seats and tables. To order, you have to do so via a tablet available on every table, and its very original. Additionally, if you're Erasmus and you show your bracelet, they will give you a 10% discount. And they have vegetarian burgers as well. Its very cheap and students often go.

In regards to pizzerias, I would suggest Il Tartufo and also a pizzeria that is on the Mondego River, although there are many to choose from.

There is also sushi and the restaurants that are there usually have an open buffet to eat and some open for dinner, which is then not too expensive.

For lunch or breakfast

The first place I would recommend is the Casa de Cha, a cafeteria in the middle of a park. This cafeteria is very interesting because it was built on donations that people have given to help people with disabilities. In addition, all the profits that they bring in will go to improve this site and the conditions of its workers. They will be the ones who always attend to you with a smile, and here you can try one of their multiple teas, their lemonades or even their juices or coffees. Also, they always have a dessert of the day, which is usually a chocolate muffin, or you can opt for a crêpe if you prefer. Sitting on the terrace is great. You have to go see it because it is very beautiful.

Although I do not recommend coming to here every day, because its prices are a little higher than in other places, I do think that you have to go at least once to Café Santa Cruz because it is the most famous in Coimbra, plus it's very pretty inside. In addition, you can enjoy the fado (Coimbra Fado is a music genre) that they play every day at 18:00 and at 20:00 while you drink your coffee with your preferred choice of cake.

TAGV (Teatro Académico de Gil Vicente, a Performing Arts Theatre) is also a cafeteria where you can drink something and have great views of the Praça da República.

Nuts is a cafeteria situated very close to the river, in which you will love to spend your afternoons if you have a sweet-tooth because it offers many different sweet treats, among which there are gigantic croissants filled with chocolate of different types and with toppings on the inside. They also have savoury items.

Another place that is quite similar is Dolce Coimbra. Here you can eat chocolate pizza, chocolate churros (although I do not recommend them) and also delicious waffles and crepes. It's situated in a very cool square that has a good atmosphere.

Then there are two relatively well-known bakeries, one of whcih is Universidade, situated next to the Escadas Monumentais canteen, and the other barkey is located on 8 de Maio.

Those two have as much sweet food as savoury, and its all very good and very traditional. They are always full of people (the first one is filled more with students, and the second is filled more with tourists).

Order online

If, on the other hand, you don't want to eat out but you also don't want to cook, you could make an order online. You can order from some of the same places that you could order from in England or Spain, such as Burger King or Telepizza. But, if you want something more traditional from Coimbra itself, you can download the Bring Eat app, or you can place an order through its website (in Portuguese). It is an application just like Just Eat and here it shows the different restaurants you can order from. Delivery costs €3. 50 and there is a great variety of food. It's very useful, but there are things to keep in mind:

- You cannot order when it's very late, neither at lunchtime nor dinnertime because otherwise, the food will not leave the restaurants for you to then eat. I'll explain: if you want to order at three o'clock in the afternoon, they will bring it to you at seven thirty o'clock at night for dinner, and the same thing happens with dinner: there are no intermediate hours for the food to be brought to you.

- It closes at ten thirty at night, and from then on you cannot place an order.

- If, when you wake up, you already know that at night you will want to order dinner from this page, you can open the app and place the order, marking the time you want it to be brought to you, and so you won't have to worry anymore for the rest of the day.

It's really a very useful app, and I am sure that you will end up using it at some point.

For something to drink

The Cartola is the first place I would recommend because, although you can eat, snack, dine, have breakfast or do whatever you want here, the most common thing to do is to come here to have a beer because it is the only bar with a terrace in all the Praça da República. Furthermore, the prices aren't too high and there are always students there.

Then there is Cervecería Praxis, a little more in the outskirts of Coimbra, so you can't get there by walking because it is quite far away (the best thing to do is to take a taxi or go by car). It is a place that specialises in serving typical beer from the area. And you can also have dinner here, though I do not recommend it because some friends told me that it wasn't very good. However, you have to try the artisinal beer samples and you can do so accompanied by live music.

A place much less well-known, and that if you're in the area you have to go, is the bar Dos Pirilampos. It is the typical village bar that is great as well as very cheap, and is also part of the neighborhood soccer association, so prices are competitive and food is homemade. We always went here to drink beers (the third beer costs 1 euro) and the atmosphere is very different because almost everyone else is older. Do not expect anything sophisticated, quite the opposite in fact, but the appetisers are good and the "bolo de bolacha" (wafer cake) is delicious (one of the best I've had).

The last place that I will recommend, and what surprised me a lot, was The Murphy's Irish Pub because it has an enormous variety of beers, typical of many different places, and you can enjoy them on the terrace there or while listening to the live music that they have on at night.

This is my selection of all the types of food that I have tried here. I hope that you will like these places and that you can go to most of them. Also, now I'm going to make some clarifications.

First, I want to say that there are also many bars to go to, especially in the Praça do Comércio and the Praça de 8 de Maio, so you can always discover new places.

Also, and to conclude this post, I want to say that you have to be careful because many times in the restaurants they will give you a card on which they will write down everything you ask for, and then they will make you pay at the end. So be careful with this because, if not, you could be paying a bill of 50 or even 100 euros, depending on the bar you're in.

I hope this has helped you!

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