Restaurant/Cafeteria Teatro Nacional de São Carlos

Just after the turn of the millennium, one of the formal "showcase" salons within Lisbon's Opera House, originally built in 1765, was transformed into this restaurant. Today it's the kind of airy, appealingly formal venue where sparkling wine might be served with fresh fish, and where you'll overhear diners relating the plot of an upcoming or past opera performance. The staff will draw your attention to the similarities of this elegant small-scale venue with the neoclassicism of La Scala in Milan, and indeed, there's something Italian and rococo about the place, especially when the opera being presented on the stage inside is broadcast onto the wide screen in the plaza outside. Excellent menu items include a cod with pesto sauce and a red cabbage risotto; magret of duck with green peppers; and grilled beef with three different kinds of Portuguese cheese.

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