Café de São Bento

Café de São Bento has been serving steak near the Portuguese parliament for more than forty years. Its founders opened it in 1982, after setting out to recreate the steak served in the old Lisbon cafés, and it has since become one of the city's best-known places for the dish. The original restaurant on Rua de São Bento is small and intimate, and it keeps late hours, which makes it popular with anyone looking for a substantial meal late in the evening.

The reason to come is the house steak, the Bife à Café de São Bento, a tender cut of beef cooked in a creamy sauce and served with fried potatoes. The sauce is the signature, rich and savoury, and the potatoes are made for dipping in it. There are other dishes on the menu, including starters, salads and desserts, but most tables order the steak, with a glass of Portuguese red. Ask for your preferred doneness when ordering.

The restaurant suits couples and small groups. Vegetarian choices are limited, as the menu is built around meat. Prices are in the mid to upper range for Lisbon, though you are paying for one of the city's classic steak experiences rather than a cheap bitoque. The room is compact, so tables are close together and the atmosphere is intimate rather than quiet.

The Rua de São Bento restaurant opens every day for lunch from 12:30 to 15:00 and for dinner from 19:00 to 02:00, so it is one of the few places in central Lisbon where you can sit down to a proper meal after midnight. Book ahead for dinner, particularly at weekends, as the room fills quickly. The brand also has branches in the Baixa, at the Time Out Market and in Cascais, but the original has the most character.

The restaurant is close to the São Bento Palace, home of the Assembly of the Republic, on the street that runs downhill towards the river. Tram 28 runs nearby, and the Rato metro station, on the yellow line, is about a ten-minute walk away. The surrounding streets, from Príncipe Real to Santos, have antique shops, bars and the Jardim da Estrela.