Tasca Kome

Lisbon has plenty of sushi and very little Japanese food. Tasca Kome is the correction. It is a small, plain room on Rua da Madalena run by Japanese cooks making the sort of thing people in Japan actually eat on a weekday: rice bowls, curry, breaded pork, grilled fish, miso, pickles. There is sushi, and it is good, but ordering it here slightly misses the point.

Lunch is the strongest argument. The set meals are excellent value — a main, rice, miso soup and pickles, balanced properly rather than assembled — and the room fills at midday with a mix of Japanese residents and people who have worked out what is going on. The katsu is done well, with a crisp, light crumb. The donburi are generous and deeply savoury. Whatever fish is on is worth taking.

It is unpretentious to the point of being easy to walk past, which is part of why it has stayed good. Service is efficient and friendly, and the turnover at lunch is quick.

Honest notes: the room is small and does not take large groups comfortably; lunch queues are real. Opening hours are limited and it closes between services, so check before you walk over. The décor is functional and there is no atmosphere to speak of. And if you specifically want a sushi omakase experience, this is not that restaurant. For genuine Japanese home cooking at a fair price, it is the best in the city.