Time Out Market Lisbon

Time Out Market Lisbon’s stalls and its chefs

The market works like the magazine. In Time Out’s words, “if it’s good, it goes in the magazine, if it’s great, it goes into the market”. A stall can stay anything from a week to three years, so the line-up keeps changing.

The chefs’ wing

Four Portuguese chefs run counters here under their own names, and the market’s guide to its stalls says what they cook.

Miguel Castro e Silva does oven-baked rice and bacalhau à Brás, salt cod scrambled with egg and fried potato. He also makes the francesinha, Porto’s meat sandwich under melted cheese and a beer-and-tomato sauce.

Henrique Sá Pessoa’s counter has a crunchy bifana, the Portuguese pork sandwich, and Marlene Vieira’s a dish of the day with a drink and dessert. Susana Felicidade, the fourth, cooks traditional dishes of the Algarve.

Manteigaria Silva, custard tarts and the rest of the Time Out Market

Away from the chefs, Time Out’s Lisbon guide suggests starting at Manteigaria Silva, a delicatessen in the city for more than a hundred years. Its black-pork ham is cured for 60 months.

For something sweet, look for Manteigaria, a different business despite the name: a custard-tart bakery with shops around the city and a counter here. Its pastéis de nata are best eaten warm.

Upstairs, on the first floor, is Pap’Açorda, a restaurant named after açorda, Portugal’s bread stew with garlic and coriander, with the chef Manuela Brandão in the kitchen.

There are vegan and gluten-free dishes, and for allergies the market asks you to talk to the staff at each stall.

The old market hasn’t gone away, either: one wing still sells fresh produce. The building also holds the Time Out Studio, a venue for up to 900 people, and a cooking school, the Time Out Academy.

Time Out Market Lisbon hours, and how to order and pay

There’s nothing to pay at the door and nothing to book. You take any free seat at the long shared tables, then order and pay at whichever stalls you like, so a group can eat from four kitchens at one table.

The market takes cash and cards, and there are three cash machines inside. It also takes MB Way, Portugal’s mobile payment app, and its own prepaid TOM cards, handy for groups and sold at the Time Out Shop on the ground floor.

Time Out’s own pages disagree about the late nights: some give 02:00 from Thursday to Saturday, others midnight every night. Stalls can also close before the hall, so for a meal after midnight, check on the day.

The Mercado da Ribeira, home of Time Out Market Lisbon

The Mercado da Ribeira opened in 1882, built to a design by the engineer Ressano Garcia, and a fire struck it in 1893.

After demolition work in 1926, the architect João Piloto rebuilt it in 1930 and crowned it with the large dome. A dome on a vegetable market looked so odd that locals jokingly called it the Turnip Mosque.

Around 2000 the market began to give up its old trade, and in May 2014 Time Out opened its first market here.

More than 35 million visitors came in its first ten years. Other Time Out Markets followed, among them New York, Boston, Chicago, Montreal, Dubai, Cape Town and Porto, and by early 2026 there were 13.

West from Cais do Sodré, then dinner at the Time Out Market

The market is two minutes from Cais do Sodré, where the green metro line ends and the Cascais-line trains start, so it’s an easy place to finish a day out west.

A 24-hour Lisboa Card, €31, covers those trains, Pilar 7 and the Jerónimos cloister, and the Ask Me Lisboa desk at Cais do Sodré is one of the places to collect it.