The Time Out Market in Lisbon is one of those places that you’re pretty much obligated to visit as a tourist; it’s a gourmet food hall curated by a group of journalists, with the idea being that all of the few dozen or so stalls are offering above-average food.
After a lot of wandering around and hemming and hawing (the abundance of delicious looking food makes it an indecisive person’s nightmare) I settled on bacalhau rice with clams from a booth called Miguel Castro e Silva.
Bacalhau — dried and salted cod which is then rehydrated to serve — is basically a national obsession here, so I knew I’d have to try it at least once. In this dish, it’s served with a risotto-esque rice along with a handful of tasty clams.
It’s quite good — the rice was swimming in a rich broth, and the whole thing had a really intense seafoody flavour. There was only a small piece of bacalhau here, but it was flavourful with a great flaky texture; it and the clams complimented the rice quite well.
I enjoyed it, but at €12.50 (about $18.50 Canadian), it was a bit on the pricey side for a dish that didn’t quite knock my socks off.