Chinese Food at Restaurante Wok Mundo at Lisbon Portugal

We have been away from Asia for almost a week and I think we have reached our limit of eating western food.  We started to miss some Asian food, some rice, fried noodles and stir fry dishes. For the past few days, we had been having lots of jamon (ham) and bread toast in the morning and tapas for lunch and dinner. Glad we end up having dinner at Restaurante Wok Mundo in Lisbon.

Restaurante Wok Mundo usually serve Buffet at a very affordable price. Lunch at 7.95 Euro and Dinner at 9.50 Euro. However, what we had wasn’t buffet but freshly cook and serve on our table. I prefer this way as I was too tired to go pick up the dishes from the smorgasbord.

The setting of the restaurant is very oriental.  At the entrance, you are welcome by the imitation of a pair of Terracotta Army. Some Chinese paper cutting was seen sticking at the wall or glass door.  Red lanterns are hanging high up the ceiling. You also find some fishes in the aquarium.  According to Chinese Feng Sui, fish and water represent wealth and abundance.

We were lucky enough to meet the owner of the restaurant and learn that he is from Fujian province China.  There are several waitresses and waiter but all are from China but speak Portuguese.

A Football game soccer table machine with coin-operated was placed near the way to the washrooms.

Chinese fried peanut dish

As usual, the first dish come was fried peanuts. This is a traditional Chinese fried peanut dish 香酥花生米. This is very simple recipes which only have oil, salts, and peanuts. It goes well with alcohol and usually serves as the first dish before the main dishes come.

Olives

Portuguese produce a lot of olive and olive oil, we saw plenty of olive tree farms on our road trip. Olives come in a range of colors, green and black. Olives serve a good appetizer. I was just a little surprised to find olive on the Chinese table menu. LOL.

Stir fry chicken with onion & pepper

The onion tasted really juicy and the chicken cooked with special sauce so it went well with rice.

 

White Rice

This is the major staple food for most Asian countries.  However, North China people do not eat rice but prefer to eat wheat for their staple food, only South China eat rice and other southeast Asian countries.

Vinegar Octopus with Onion and Green & Red Pepper

Octopus seems like well love in Portugal.  Over here at the Chinese restaurant in Lisbon, they use octopus too.  I think this dish adopt the Portuguese recipe instead of the Chinese recipe.  Still, it tasted good and I love it as it is quite appetizing because of the vinegar touch.  The octopus is cut into small pieces cube and it tasted super juicy and tender.

Tomato and egg soup 蕃茄蛋花汤

This is a very common household dish in China and the ingredients are pretty simple, egg and tomato.

Stir Fried Beef with Onion 洋葱牛肉

Well, the beef is very tender, moist and caramelized as it cooked in a sweet-savory sauce. Again, it goes well with white rice.

Stir Fry Bean with Garlic

Another stir fry dish! Chinese love to have the high-heat fire or they call “the taste of wok” so most dishes go through stir fry, be it vegetable and meats. They usually add in some garlic which tasted good. I am in love with garlic.

Chinese Braised Fish

Chinese called “Hong Shao Yu”. The fish first went through the “wok” for frying about 5 mins when it becomes a little brownish, then add in secret recipes, such as Shaoxing wine (Chinese cooking wine), sugar, vinegar, dark soy sauce, light soy sauce, and some scallions and ginger.  Well, I am glad there are no many bones.

Garlic Broccoli Shrimp Stir Fry

They called shrimp as “Gambas” in Spain and Portugal.  Glad the shrimp shell was taken away so it is very easy to eat.  The broccoli is also tasted crunchy and not too soft.

Stir Fry Sausages & Pepper

The sausages used here is not the Chinese sausage so I suspect this dish is tailored for the local Portuguese palette. I don’t enjoy the Portuguese sausages cook in this way.

Brussels Sprouts in Olive Oil

I think these Brussels Sprouts were first boiled then add in olive oil.  I don’t enjoy Brussels Sprouts so this dish is a no for me.

Stir Fry Beehoon

This is one of our favorite dish, the “wok hei” or the taste of wok is so strong and we all love it so much.  Glad that they are fresh bean sprout added into this stir fry bee hoon.  I just wish they added more of bean sprout.

Fruits

Fruits served was pineapple, melon and grapes.  The grapes are super huge.

Dessert

Well, for dessert, we have to go to the fridge and choose what we like. There are pudding, tarts, cream pie bite and many more, all serve in a little dessert bowl.

Flan and Cheesecake

Flan seems to be a popular Iberian dessert, the ingredient is only eggs, milk and sugar. We have been tasting flan almost every single night during our road trip to Spain and Portugal. However one thing I notice is the flan here is always the classic flan flavor, that is never flavored with other stuff such as cinnamon or mint or citrus. It is always the traditional combination of rich custard and bittersweet caramel.

Mango Ice cream

I end my meal with the mango ice cream.  There are few to choose from but I love mango flavor.  The mango ice-cream is a must have.

Final thoughts:

For  Asian travelers who missed their Asian cuisine, Wok Mundo is a great option to dine at in Lisbon.  I won’t complain too much as the price is cheap and the food is sufficient.