Honorato – Burgers & Gin

If you’re in Lisbon, you’ll have noticed that gin has taken the city by storm! Everywhere you go now, you’ll find gin bars. I don’t question where this trend came from, I’m only thankful that it’s here.

One night, we stumbled upon a burger joint/gin bar called Honorato. It’s a chain, which is a good thing, because wherever you are in the city, you don’t have to travel far to find one. We sat at the bar and chatted with the friendly bartenders at the Honorato in Saldanha. They kindly advised us on the best gin & tonic cocktails to suit our personal preferences. The bar has close to 90 types of gin to choose from, and 8 types of tonic (who knew!) – each tonic is chosen to complement the selected gin. The cocktails were deliciously prepared with berries, spices, herbs, flowers and fruit in extra large glasses the size of my face. Amazing! My favorite concoction (although I didn’t find one I disliked) was a Sikkim Fraise gin, with strawberries, cinnamon, a secret ingredient I didn’t catch, and 1724 tonic water.

Most people do actually go to Honorato for their burgers. Understandably. It’s the only thing on the menu and the burgers are pretty delicious. I’m not normally a burger-person (I know: what’s wrong with me?!) but I happily eat these. The brioche-bun burgers come in two sizes: regular and mini. Minis are adorable, but don’t last long, which is why I don’t have any photos of them here to show you. My favorite was the Falcão (watercress, tomato, bacon, onions and cheddar cheese). All burgers come with the house fries and the garlic mayo, which make a killer combo and are surprisingly addictive. The house mata-bixo is a fried ball of spicy Portuguese sausage and makes a flavorful starter while you wait for your food and sip your G&T.

After a few visits, two things happened: 1) I made friends with the bar staff, 2) I became kind of a gin snob. But is that really a bad thing?…