Lisbon: Portuguese Cooking Class with Wine & Private Station

4.88

(137 reviews)

What’s the experience like?

We walked into the cooking school in Lisbon and it smelled like onions frying—one of those scents that always reminds me of home, even if I’m nowhere near it. Our guide, Marta, greeted us right away. She had this way of making you feel like you’d known her for ages, even though I was still a bit nervous about messing up the codfish dish (bacalhau something—I never did get the pronunciation right). The kitchen was bright and everyone got their own little station. I liked that; no fighting over spoons or elbow room.

Marta started us off with a quick intro to the recipes—apparently, these are all things she learned from her grandmother. She told us stories about why certain spices are used (I’d never thought much about paprika before) and how every family has their own version of the same dish. There was this moment when we were crushing garlic for the starter, and someone’s laughter echoed through the room because they’d managed to fling a clove across the counter. It felt relaxed, not like those TV shows where everything is perfect.

When we finally sat down to eat what we’d made—fish first, then meat—the wine came out (Portuguese red for me). The flavors were richer than anything I’d tried in restaurants, maybe because I’d actually chopped and stirred it myself. Someone asked Marta if she ever gets tired of teaching people how to cook the same dishes; she just smiled and said every group brings something different. I still think about that—how food can be both tradition and surprise at once.