TLDR: Michelin recognized eats for a reasonable price. In your face cooking is a very nice touch but also produces hiccups in service.
Vibe: 4/5. Located in the Belem neighborhood of Lisbon, O Frade is a cozy restaurant serving. Ith lunch and dinner. The dining room consists of 1 large U shaped bar which allows roughly 12 people to dine for each sitting. With this kind of scarcity in table space, one must feel comfortable sitting nearby other diners and in a relatively small space for the duration of the meal. The U shape bar serves the purpose of allowing diners watch the kitchen staff prepare their food right in front of them on the inside of the U bar. A truly unique and fun experience for those that like having an open kitchen type experience. Also to note, with the most recent MIchelin Bib Gourmand accolade being awarded to O Frade, the restaurant is more busy than ever, with every seating being at max capacity so reservations are highly advised.
Service: 3/5. Unfortunately this is where I felt O Frade needed a bit of refinement. During our lunch service, we felt the service was just not up to par with what I would expect from a Michelin recognized establishment. We had reservations for around noon and we're seated immediately, however it took quite some time for us to get our food and drink orders in (this is with our waiter/chef right in front of us). Granted, the kitchen/wait staff is splitting duties between cooking and serving for the 12 patrons at the bar which I am sure can get hectic. Because of the space constraints of the kitchen, it seems O Frade relies heavily on batch cooking. They wait to fire up a dish only until several people order the same thing so they can do one large batch of it and serve it at the same time. This makes total sense from a kitchen management point of view, however it sometimes creates a lag in meal pacing and losing the ability for diners to experience flavor progression. We had moments in our meal where we went without food for a handful of minutes or we were served things out of order to what would normally be expected in a typical service. This also made our wine choices difficult, as we were constantly surprised with dishes we thought we would be receiving later, leaving us with the incorrect wine for the dish at hand. A little nitpicky? Perhaps, but noteworthy for those having elevated expectations, absolutely.
Food: 4/5. O Frade had some delicious takes on Portuguese food. For lunch, we decided to order heavily from their tapas section and split a main course. Our order consisted of the razor clams, special pie, pork fat, tuna over eggs and the duck rice entre. The razor clams, which they have become famous for from travel shows, lived up to the hype. Simply prepared in olive oil, salt and garlic, the clams were plump, tender and delicious. The duck rice was also a crowd pleaser, being served in a cast iron pan complete with crunchy rice bits on the outside and tender duck on the inside. The special pie left a lot to be desired, as it sat out in the kitchen a few more minutes than it needed as the center was cold when served. With the food we ordered and several glasses of wine, our bill came in well under $100 euros, making this a very budget friendly meal considering the pedigree of the restaurant and what we received. Overall, was very pleased with the food at O Frade and definitely recommend! read more