Mercado da Ribeira — Market hall in Cais do Sodré, Lisbon

Mercado da Ribeira is a market hall in Cais do Sodré, a short walk from the station of the same name, and the first thing you notice is the scale of it: an old covered market with a high roof, stalls running down one side and a long run of food counters filling the rest of the floor.

The morning side is the traditional market, with fruit, vegetables, fish and flowers laid out for browsing. On the food side, the seafood counters are where to start, and the cod preparations in particular are worth ordering. Between savoury courses, the Manteigaria stand sells pastéis de nata, and Garrafeira Nacional is the wine shop inside the hall if you want a bottle with your meal.

How it works is simple: you order at a counter, then find a table in the shared seating area, which means sitting alongside strangers from everywhere. It is a giant food court in the middle of a working market, with counters covering Portuguese dishes, sushi, pizza, meat, seafood, vegetarian options and desserts, plus drinks available throughout.

Prices sit in the €5–20 band at the stalls, and portions are sized to match. If you are a small group, take your food out and eat in the park next door, where there are bins for leftovers. Not every counter is open right at 10 am, so arriving a little later gets you more choice.

The hall gets severely crowded around midday and into the early afternoon, and in summer the heat inside is hard to sit through. It still suits anyone eating with a group whose tastes do not match.