Whole sardines, salted and charcoal-grilled — the smell of Lisbon in June. Eaten on bread with roasted peppers. Head to tail, no waste.
About Grilled Sardines
Lisbon's summer ritual and its most emotive food — whole fresh sardines (sardinhas) salted and grilled over charcoal until the skin blisters and chars and the flesh steams in its own fat; eaten head to tail on bread with a roasted pepper salad during the Santo António festival in June; the smell of charcoal and sardines is the smell of Lisbon in June.
Whole fresh sardines, salted and grilled over charcoal until the skin blisters and chars and the flesh steams in its own fat. Eaten head to tail on bread with a roasted pepper salad. The smell of charcoal and sardines in June is the smell of Lisbon during the Santo António festival.
“Whole fresh sardines, salted and grilled over charcoal until the skin blisters and chars and the flesh steams in its own fat.”
June is sardine season — the fish are fattest and most flavourful. Out of season sardines are frozen and produce a different result.
What to Expect
At a Lisbon street grill during Santo António the sardines arrive on a piece of bread that absorbs the fat. You eat from the tail, stripping the flesh with a fork or your hands. The skin is charred and slightly bitter.
Why Try It
Grilled sardines are Lisbon's most seasonal and most emotive food — the June festival, the charcoal smoke and the Atlantic fish are inseparable.
Insider Tips
- Eat only in June — the June sardines are fatter and more flavourful than any other month.
- The bread below is intentional — it absorbs the fat and is the best part.
- Tasca do Chico in Lisbon's Bairro Alto and any Alfama street grill are reliable settings.
