Pavilhão Chinês – Lisbon, Portugal - Gastro Obscura

Pavilhão Chinês

Ring the bell to enter a bar that looks equal parts museum and old curiosity shop. 

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Look for the red door and ring the doorbell to be let inside Pavilhão Chinês, a bar in the trendy Bairro Alto neighborhood of Lisbon. Housed in a 1901 building that was formerly a grocery store, the bar’s five rooms are packed with the owner’s personal stash of vintage collectibles and oddities, amounting to a sprawling cabinet of curiosities.

There are rows of helmets and military uniforms, vintage paintings in every corner, and shelves with all manner of dolls and action figures. Model planes and boats strung from the darkened ceilings jostle for space with crystal chandeliers. Around the bar counter, china plates and antique mugs hang helter-skelter around perched porcelain figurines. Don’t bump into the British Palace guard mannequin standing at attention on your way to order a drink.

Sit at the festively upholstered little booths in one of the rooms, lined on all four sides with ever more cabinets bursting with vintage toys, trains, pins, and more. Order some bacalhau and a bottle of wine, and take in the surroundings in this spirited curiosity-shop-cum-drinking-establishment.

Know Before You Go

The bar is open 6:00 p.m. to 2:00 a.m. Remember: You have to a ring a bell to be let inside.

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