Tapabento for lunch

We had been looking for Tapabento for days! They have a big on-line presence but when we followed directions with our phone, we ended up at an empty store front. What the! Finally this morning, I asked someone who works next door to where Tapabento used to be located and he pointed behind me! They have literally moved across the road and are now situated inside Sāo Bento train station. We must have walked past within a metre of it about ten times, but it was easy to miss because of the construction work that is taking place.

We were there just before opening at noon and hoped they could fit us in. Isabelle, who owns the restaurant, greeted us and welcomed us back! We showed her a photo taken of Ian and her nearly exactly 4 years ago. Ian took a photo of me with Isabelle this time and she asked us to send her copies, which we did, and she loved it.

The new space is really nice, very spacious, with high ceilings and you can see the trains come and go, which is pretty cool. We ordered drinks, me a Porto Tonico and Ian a rosé and we chose some tapas and a salad to share. We had croquettes, tuna tartare with avocado on toast, tortilla and a mixed salad. All the food was fresh and delicious, as we expected, and we had room for dessert - a chocolate mousse with some biscuit crumb, vanilla cake and hazelnut ice-cream.

We enjoyed it so much we booked in for lunch the following day as well.Read more