O Frade

Belém is where you go for the monastery, the tower and the tarts, and then, if you know, for lunch at O Frade. It is a very small room a few streets back from the crowds, run by people from the Alentejo who cook the food of the Alentejo without softening it for anybody.

That means black pork, in several forms, all of them good. It means sheep's cheese served with bread that deserves the cheese. It means açorda — the bread, garlic and coriander soup that sounds like nothing and tastes like the whole region — and migas, and probably something with pork cheek that has been going slowly all morning. Portions are generous, seasoning is confident, and nothing on the plate is there to be decorative.

The wine list is the surprise. For a room this size it is unreasonably good, deep in Alentejo producers and full of bottles you will not see elsewhere, poured by people who genuinely want to talk about them. Ask for a recommendation and set a budget; you will do better than you would choosing alone.

Honest notes: it seats very few people and does not fit large groups at all. Lunch is easier than dinner. If you are heading to Pastéis de Belém afterwards, do not order dessert here — you will regret the double. And the cooking is rich in a way that suits a long afternoon rather than a schedule; plan a slow walk after it.