Lisbon is a Portuguese tapas bar and restaurant in Wrexham. It has recently been put on the foodie map, due to a recent review by the famous food critic Jay Rayner.
He described the bar as having "a big heart" with staff being "genuinely pleased to see you" while complimenting its service, and of course, its quality of food. The restaurant situated on the picturesque Church Street is overlooked by the historic St Giles Church, one of the '"Seven Wonders of Wales".
The tapas bar has a five-star rating on Tripadvisor and has been fully booked since the rave review. It’s really good to see Wrexham praised for its the culinary scene and the bar has also been visited by yet another famous person, this time from Hollywood.
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Star Wars actress Femi Taylor visited Lisbon Tapas Restaurant during a trip to Wrexham, leaving the restaurant yet another ‘out of this world’ review. So I thought it was time to put the restaurant to our very own taste test to see what all the fuss is about.
You can book a table online with a £10 deposit. The restaurant is fairly small with about 12 tables but is set up in rows so gives the impression of plenty of space.
The decor is wonderfully colourful with pictures of the famous graffitied trams of Lisbon. Fado music plays in the background along with a couple of televisions that show scenes from Portugal in the background.
The menu has a ‘while you wait’ section along with lighter bites. These are mainly full of items such as Portuguese sandwiches, sourdough, olives or egg-based dishes.
The mains section offers items such as skewers, pork belly and ribs and offers two free sides into the bargain. They also have about four sharing dishes, which includes the ‘steamed clams’ in wine and garlic sauce that were so highly praised by Rayner.
They recommend about five or six dishes from the ‘Tapas Section’ for two people. They are served as soon as they are ready. You can always add more if you are super hungry and it all adds up to the fun.
We order a half of Super Bock and a Wrexham Lager for drinks and prefer the latter. Wrexham 1 Portugal 0.
It was an early lunch slot so we decide to order just four tapas rather than the five or six recommended. The friendly waiter asks us if we would like some bread as we wait. The rustic bread, which was a sourdough, was served with salt and a dipping balsamic vinegar.
The Portuguese love savouries, as it’s the perfect snack for any time of the day, hence why the handmade chicken samosas and salted cod fish cakes are our first choices off the tapas menu. The salted cod fish cakes tasted fresh and had a blob of garlic butter on the top. The chicken samosas were laid on a lettuce leaf with red peppers on top and were served with a sweet chilli dip.
We also went for an almondega dish, which was basically four seasoned meatballs with red peppers served on top of a spicy tomato sauce using exported ingredients from Portugal. The crispy patatas bravas were plentiful with the crispy cubes of fried potatoes having a sweet salsa sauce poured over the top. I ate the green chilli, which was placed on top, and this brought a tear to my eye until it was doused with some lager.
The desserts included the famous traditional Pasteis de nata, Portuguese custard tarts, served with liqueur at £5.90 but sadly we were too full of tapas to try them. Other puddings included a homemade caramel pudding, a homemade almond tart or caramelised apple with ice cream.
The service was friendly and laidback, which made you feel at ease at all times. You can see why this humble tapas bar had had so many rave reviews from celebrities, as it serves simple homemade fresh food but does it with love, care and warmth. The Lisbon Tapas bar certainly gets the thumbs up from the not so famous taste test folk as well.
The facts
What we ate and drank: Rustic bread £4.95; Patatas Bravas £5.75; Chicken Samosas £5.95; Salted Cod fish cakes, £5.95; Almondegas £6.90; Super Bock £2.65; Wrexham Lager £2.45. Total £34.60.
Address and contact details: Lisbon Tapas Restaurant, 6 Church Street, Wrexham, LL13 8LS, 01978 362264.
Opening times: Wednesday, 5pm–11pm; Thursday, Friday, Saturday, 12pm–11pm; Sunday, 1pm–10pm. Closed Monday and Tuesday.
Atmosphere: ‘Out of this world’ according to the ‘star wars’ actor.
Car parking: Car park free after 11am on the other side of St Giles Church.
Disabled access: Flat floor with no steps.
Service: "Genuinely pleased to see you", as Rayner said.
Overall: Wrexham’s now-famous tapas restaurant.
