Lisbon is not only famous for its beautiful landscape, architecture, and pastel de nata. It also has a thriving social scene and, with that, comes with a mature array of brunch options that would satisfy many cafe dwellings hipsters.

When I first asked my friends for Lisbon recommendations, I was expecting a list of traditional Portuguese restaurants serving the best octopus and seafood in town. Whereas I did get some, a good portion of my list was actually for brunch spots. Being a Londoner, I was sceptical – surely I don’t need to go all the way to Lisbon for a good brunch? Well, I am wrong, because what I had was bloody fantastic.

I didn’t venture too all of the brunch spots recommended, but from the ones I tried, Dear Breakfast stood out as by far the best. In fact, it was so good that I came back twice.

Dear Breakfast is already an establishment in Lisbon, and currently has 3 branches: Chiado, Alfama, and Bica. And here is my experience:

Dear Breakfast Chiado

The most central of the three branches. It does require a walk up a steep lane but if you can’t deal with that then Lisbon isn’t for you. It usually has a queue, and that was no different when I arrived at 11am on a Saturday morning. It was not prohibitively long though – I had around 8-10 people in front of me and only waited for 30 minutes so not too painful. The inside of the cafe was elegant and well decorated, and the menu has plenty of options that I had trouble deciding on. You can find their menu here.

I always have a soft spot for pancakes – so I naturally went for that on the menu. There is a sweet and salted option: the sweet option was generally the more popular choice (caramel cream, banana, pecan) and understandably so, but I ended up going for the salted one: pancakes with fried eggs, bacon, avocado, and maple syrup because I have very little resistance to anything sweet and salty. 

I was also having a bit of fomo seeing another diner’s scramble egg so I requested my fried eggs to be scrambled  instead- which they happily obliged. If I may say so myself, it was a great call – the eggs were amazingly made and you can already tell it is good quality egg by its colour. Bacon was also of great quality, and despite them not giving you a jar of maple syrup to pour over they added just the right amount so that the whole dish had a good balance between salty and sweet. Flat white was great too. All in all, I enjoyed it so much that by then I had already decided to come back before the end of my trip

Dear Breakfast Alfama

My second visit a few days later (I mean , as much as I like it, going there 2 days in a row is a bit much), was equally good. This time I chose their Alfama branch, which you will definitely pass through to visit Saint George’s Castle (/ Castelo de São Jorge). It does require a bit more of an uphill track than the one in Chiado, but by doing so you will be rewarded with an amazing view nearby. I am not saying that you should visit Alfama for Dear Breakfast, but it certainly is a great place to stop by if you are in the area.

I again visited during peak brunch hour, but the queue here was shorter than Chiado. So if you don’t really want to wait for too long, you will have better luck getting a table faster with Alfama. As a quick tip – you can get seated even quicker if you choose outside table, but personally I think the inside was a way more pleasant experience especially when it is hot.

The decor is of a similar nature – simple, stripped back and natural style.  This time I went for their brunch menu: which gives you a brunch cocktail (bloody mary / mimosa / aperol spritz / sparkling wine / orange juice with 3 refills), coffee or tea, croissant, granola, and a plate of either egg or pancake dish. For €20 it is excellent value, given that an egg or pancake dish themselves are already €10 by themselves. It could be a good idea to order a brunch to share between two because it is seriously massive.

In a deal like this I would have expected the pastry and granola to be afterthoughts – but they were both excellent especially the granola – which is also filled with fresh fruit, yoghurt and a bit of honey. Orange juice evidently freshly made from good quality orange, and the egg benedict I went for was also perfect cooked.

All in all, I ate so much that I didn’t really need anything else until dinner, and there was no regret.

So, yes, if you are looking for brunch / breakfast / just some food during the day I’d strongly recommend Dear Breakfast. One thing I didn’t manage to try is their sweet pancakes which is also very popular. It might be a bit unfair to say that it is the best brunch in Lisbon given I haven’t tried out the rest extensively but it is certainly one of the best I have been do whether it be Lisbon, London or anywhere else.

9/10

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