WhereToEatNow Review
Versailles is what A Brasileira would be if the tour buses had never found it. Opened in 1922 on Avenida da República, it is all stucco ceilings, chandeliers, carved wood and mirrors — a full-blown grand café — and it is still, on a weekday afternoon, largely full of Lisbon residents having coffee and cake because that is what they have always done here.
The pastry counter is long and worth studying before you commit. The conventual classics are all present and well made, the bolo de arroz is exactly right, and the savoury side — rissóis, croquetes, a decent sandwich — is better than it needs to be. Waiters in white jackets take orders at the table with a formality that has completely vanished from the rest of the city, and they are unhurried about it.
The move is mid-afternoon: order a galão and two pastries, sit at a table with a view of the room, and stay for an hour. It costs very little and it is one of the few places where the Lisbon of a century ago is still operating as a functioning business rather than a heritage exhibit.
Honest notes: it is a fifteen-minute metro ride from the centre, which is exactly why it has stayed intact — do not expect to stumble on it. The formality can read as stiff if you are in a hurry. And it is a café, not a restaurant, so the hot-food menu is limited. Go for the room, the pastry and the near-total absence of other visitors.