If You Only Do One Thing In Lisbon, Make It A Market Tour and Cooking Class at Mesa Luisa

Meet Luisa.

Luisa grew up in Portugal, went to school in Belgium, lived in Spain and France and spent a large chunk of her life travelling the world while she worked in advertising before she quit to become a dressmaker, working out of her stunning former ship part warehouse space directly facing the Tagus River in Lisbon. Then, this past February, Luisa decided to change course yet again, built a beautiful kitchen in her warehouse and launched her newest venture, Mesa Luisa. Offering her version of the more typical market shop followed by a cooking class and lunch, upcoming workshops and private evening dinners by appointment , Luisa has reinvented herself as a chef, hostess, guide and story teller in her hometown of Lisbon.

Oh, did I forget to mention that Luisa's two children are famous musicians? Her son is Salvador Sobral, the 2017 Eurovision winner (Portugal's first ever win) and he won by singing a song penned by his equally famous sister, musician Luisa Sobral. In our group, we met with four lovely young women from Malaga, Spain who came, in part, because they all love Salvador and wanted to meet his mother. That might have been what brought them, but all that was soon forgotten as the morning commenced and Luisa proved that she doesn't need her famous kids to draw people in.

Before I go any further, I will tell you that although I attended as Louisa's guest, I did pay the full fee for my sister, who I was travelling through Portugal with and I would happily pay to go to another class the next time I am in Lisbon. Okay, now that's out of the way, I will continue.

She meets her group at the mouth of the famous Mercado de Ribeira and after establishing language needs - she speaks Portuguese, French, Spanish and English and I think she is proficient in a couple of others- we all set off into the market to shop for ingredients.

 Unlike other classes, there is no set menu and she asks everyone if there is anything in particular they would like to eat (or not) and the menu starts to take shape on the spot. I tell her I want to make ameijoas a bulhao pato (clams in white wine) so she buys a bag of tiny clams before she orders a beautiful, whole fish from her favourite fish monger and we set off to choose produce while the fish is being cleaned. The girls from Malaga want to try bok choy so that goes on the menu as well.

Again, she tells everyone to pick out whatever fruit or vegetables they would like to eat and we all grab what we would like to try and throw it in the bin. Upon returning to the fish stall, the fish has not been cleaned yet because the woman working there announces that we clearly would like to watch her in action and she throws the fish around like a ninja, scaling, gutting and cleaning it while we all ooh and ahh in admiration.

We leave the fish stall, visit a butcher for some pork to make Pica pau. When I hear that she is making woodpecker, I yelp that I have never eaten a woodpecker but I am certainly up for that! Everyone then starts to laugh because the dish is only CALLED woodpecker because it's comprised of wine soaked strips of pounded pork that you pick at when you eat it, piece by piece. 

I would eaten the hell out of some actual woodpecker, I tell you.

She takes us to a few more shops before we set out to return to her kitchen space. Behind a giant, unassuming door, lays a cobblestone walkway lined with beautiful warehouses. A hanging herb garden welcomes up at her door as we spy her ever efficient assistant, Ana, through a large, open window.

A gorgeous table, set under a huge crystal chandelier, is set with beautiful china, wine glasses, carafes and brightly coloured linens.

Basically, the place is a dream and all of us are swooning while we silently calculate how much it will take to move here and live in a place like this forever.

Aprons are handed out, wine bottles are uncorked and the prep is on. Unlike other cooking classes, Luisa is not "teaching",  she and Ana are merely guiding us along, flitting between all of us, assigning tasks and giving quick instruction - it felt more like I was helping to make a big family dinner at the home of my wonderful, Portuguese cousin's house than a cooking class that I had just paid to attend. Think of this more as an interactive dinner party than a cooking class.

Much wine is consumed, new friends are made, laughter rings out constantly as we all chatter in a mix of Spanish, English and Portuguese until, at last, lunch is ready.

Luisa seats us all around her stunning table, more wine is poured, and she sits with us to enjoy this fabulous lunch of clams, roasted vegetables, a whole fish cooked in wine and olive oil with potatoes and cherry tomatoes and salads.

At one point, her oven turns off while the fish is roasting and without missing a beat, off she goes, Ana in tow, to try to get to the bottom of it. No panic, no drama and the rest of us just kept talking and eating and laughing, vaguely aware that something was up but no really caring because you just know this dynamic duo will take care of it and "git er done".

Which is exactly what they did.

Sadly, before we had even finished dessert, my sister and I had to tear ourselves away so we could catch our 3:00 pm train to Porto. We hopped into an Uber at the same time that the class was supposed to end, but we left a table full of people, still drinking wine, laughing and lingering over dessert and looking like there was no intention to stop the party any time soon.

If you do ONE THING while you are in Lisbon, this is the thing to do. Okay, I know that is the title of this post and therefore, redundant but I MEAN IT.

This is no generic cooking class, this is as authentic of an experience as you are going to find and I absolutely guarantee you that you will leave feeling full, happy and like you just gained a Portuguese family member (oh and maybe an invite to come to Malaga and stay with the beautiful quartet of Spanish girls who came looking for a pop star and left fangirling over his mother)

Mesa Luisa Market Class
Tuesday to Saturday
€ 80
includes market tour, cooking class, lunch and storytelling
Av 24 de Julho , 4B, Armezem 10
Lisbon
hello@mesaluisa.com

LOCATION

Av. 24 de Julho, 4B, armazém 10,
1200-480 Lisboa

EMAIL

hello@mesaluisa.com

LOCATION

Av. 24 de Julho, 4B, armazém 10,
1200-480 Lisboa

EMAIL

hello@mesalui

Mesa Luisa