For a proper bowl of ramen in Lisbon, go to Koppu Ramen Izakaya in Chiado, the only ramen kitchen on our list. Its kitchen builds each stock the long way from Japanese pantry staples, and the bowl it is best known for is the Ebi Kare Ramen, a curry broth with shrimp. If the counter is full, Izakaya, Ryoshi, Boa-Bao and a few other Asian kitchens around the city will see you through the evening.
The short list
8 places, in the order they appear below.
- 1KOPPU RAMEN IZAKAYA CHIADOSlow-broth ramen and the curry bowlChiado
- 2IzakayaGrill counter, groups, sakePríncipe Real
- 3RyoshiLate katsu sando and daily nigiriCais do Sodré
- 4Confraria LXSushi with Portuguese fishPríncipe Real
- 5Boa-BaoWalk-in pad thai and baoChiado
- 6JNcQUOI AsiaA dressed-up night outAvenida da Liberdade
- 7KanazawaOmakaseBelém
- 8Tentações de GoaGoan curriesMouraria
Where is the best ramen bowl in Lisbon?
Our answer is Koppu Ramen Izakaya in Chiado. What sets it apart is the stock: the kitchen makes it slowly from kombu, dried bonito and shiitake, and nothing comes out of a bottle to save time. Bowls arrive with sake and cocktails on the side.
Weekend nights get loud early, and the drinks move as fast as the noodles. Come at the start of the evening if you want a counter seat. That’s where the broths are put together in front of you.
KOPPU RAMEN IZAKAYA CHIADO
Hours: Mon–Thu 12:00–23:30 · Fri–Sat 12:00–00:00 · Sun 12:00–23:30
Address: R. de São Nicolau 114, 1100-548 Lisboa, Portugal
Which ramen should I order at Koppu?
Order the Ebi Kare Ramen, the kitchen’s take on comfort food. It’s a Japanese curry broth thick with udon, topped with shrimp sautéed in garlic and ginger and some crunchy lotus root. Strictly speaking, those noodles are udon, not ramen.
Have a sake or one of the cocktails with it.
Where else to eat Japanese food in central Lisbon?
If Koppu’s counter is full, three Japanese kitchens in Príncipe Real and Cais do Sodré pick up the slack. Izakaya cooks tavern plates over an open grill. Ryoshi keeps feeding people late into the night. At Confraria LX, the sushi plays with Portuguese ingredients.
Izakaya occupies a former ceramics factory in a Príncipe Real courtyard. A high counter wraps around the open kitchen, under red and blue neon. Share the Sado oysters with ponzu and the gyutan sando, wagyu tongue with kimchi mayo. The yakitori skewers change nightly, so ask the team which are on.
Izakaya
Hours: Mon–Thu 12:30–15:00, 19:00–00:00 · Fri–Sat 12:30–15:00, 19:00–01:00 · Sun 12:30–15:00, 19:00–00:00
Address: P. do Tijolo 11, 1250-301 Lisboa, Portugal
Ryoshi is a small Japanese room in Cais do Sodré where Japanese food is an everyday habit, kept for no particular occasion. Its signature is a katsu sando of veal tongue with karashi mustard in soft milk bread: a Lisbon prego by way of Tokyo. It can sell out on busy nights, so order it first. Beside the printed menu there’s a nigiri run built on the day’s fish, plus karaage, horse mackerel, and eel with rice and egg yolk.
Ryoshi
Hours: Mon–Sat 19:00–01:00 · Sun closed
Address: Rua da Boavista 108, 1200-262 Lisboa, Portugal
Confraria LX is Chef Kiko’s sushi bar in Príncipe Real, a small, stylish room that applies Japanese technique to Portuguese produce. The signature rolls use Portuguese fish and flavours, and they’re inventive without turning gimmicky. Ask the chef what came in fresh that day.
Confraria LX
Hours: Mon–Sun 12:00–00:00
Address: Portugal, R. do Alecrim 12A, 1200-161 Lisboa, Portugal
Which pan-Asian restaurants in Lisbon are worth it?
If you’d rather have curries, noodles and bao than a Japanese menu, two pan-Asian rooms cover it. Boa-Bao, just off Largo do Camões in Chiado, borrows from Thai, Vietnamese, Indian and Indonesian street food in a big, buzzy room. On Avenida da Liberdade, JNcQUOI Asia runs four kitchens side by side (Indian, Thai, Chinese and Japanese) beneath a life-sized dragon skeleton.
The curries and noodle dishes at Boa-Bao are punchy and consistent, and the pad thai and the bao are the crowd pleasers. Without a booking, you’re after one of a handful of walk-in counter seats, first come, first served. Since it’s in the same neighbourhood as Koppu, it makes a reliable fallback.
Boa-Bao
Hours: Mon–Wed 12:00–15:30, 18:30–22:30 · Thu–Fri 12:00–15:30, 18:30–23:30 · Sat 12:00–23:30 · Sun 12:00–22:30
Address: Largo Rafael Bordalo Pinheiro 30, 1200-369 Lisboa, Portugal
JNcQUOI Asia, designed by Lázaro Rosa Violán, is a place to dress up for. There’s a sushi counter on one side and a terrace made to feel like a night street in Bangkok or Hong Kong. Pairs are better off at the sushi counter and groups on the terrace, because the main room gets louder as the night goes on. The Ganda Bar stays open after the restaurant closes, and it’s also where to wait for your table.
JNcQUOI Asia
Hours: Mon–Sun 12:00–00:00
Address: Av. da Liberdade 144, 1250-146 Lisboa, Portugal
Which Asian restaurants in Lisbon deserve a special trip?
Two places on our list need more planning, and they repay it. Kanazawa in Belém is an intimate omakase counter with only a handful of seats and a precise Japanese tasting menu. Tentações de Goa in Mouraria sits at the other end in tone: a tiny, homely kitchen cooking the food of Portugal’s former Indian colony, with spicing that goes back to the old trade routes.
At Kanazawa, chef Paulo Morais is obsessive about sourcing his fish, and his sushi is quietly exact. There’s one sitting and very few seats. Book well ahead, order the full omakase and let the chef set the pace from behind the counter.
Kanazawa
Hours: Mon closed · Tue 19:00–21:30 · Wed–Thu 12:00–15:00, 19:00–21:30 · Fri 12:00–15:00, 16:00–18:00, 19:00–21:30 · Sat 12:00–15:00, 19:00–21:30 · Sun closed
Address: R. Damião de Góis 3 A, 1400-088 Lisboa, Portugal
Tentações de Goa is cramped and full of regulars. The prawn curry, chicken xacuti and sorpotel all have real depth of spice; order rice to soak up the sauce. Book, or turn up when it opens, and bring cash.
Tentações de Goa
Hours: Mon 19:00–22:00 · Tue–Sat 12:00–15:00, 19:00–22:00 · Sun closed
Address: R. de São Pedro Mártir 23, 1100-555 Lisboa, Portugal
For one evening in the centre, start with a bowl at Koppu. If the counter’s full, move on to Boa-Bao in the same neighbourhood or to the Japanese kitchens in Príncipe Real and Cais do Sodré. Kanazawa needs its own trip out to Belém. Before you go, check each card for closing days, and book the smaller rooms ahead: with so few seats, they fill quickly.
