The Best Indian Dishes to Try in Lisbon — A Complete Food Guide

Lisbon's Indian restaurant scene has come a long way. Where once the city had only a handful of modest curry houses, it now offers some of the most accomplished Indian cooking in southern Europe. But with menus that can run to fifty dishes or more, first-timers — and even regular visitors — can find the choice overwhelming. This guide cuts through the noise and identifies the dishes that represent Indian cuisine at its finest, and that you should prioritise on your next visit to a Lisbon Indian restaurant.

The Tandoor Classics: Where to Begin

The tandoor — a cylindrical clay oven fired to temperatures exceeding 480°C — is the beating heart of North Indian cooking. Nothing that emerges from it can quite be replicated at home, which makes ordering tandoori dishes at a restaurant one of the most rewarding choices you can make.

Tandoori Chicken

The benchmark dish for any Indian restaurant. Whole chicken pieces are marinated overnight in a mixture of yoghurt, lemon juice, ginger, garlic, and a blend of spices that typically includes cumin, coriander, turmeric, and Kashmiri red chilli — which gives the characteristic deep red-orange colour without excessive heat. Cooked directly in the tandoor, the skin chars and caramelises while the interior stays moist and intensely flavoured. Served with sliced onion, lemon, and mint chutney.

Seekh Kebab

Minced lamb or chicken mixed with onion, chillies, fresh coriander, and aromatic spices, pressed onto metal skewers and cooked in the tandoor until lightly charred on the outside and succulent within. The texture is closer to a sausage than a patty — springy, richly spiced, and deeply satisfying. A squeeze of lemon immediately before eating makes a significant difference.

Chicken Tikka

Boneless chicken pieces given the same overnight yoghurt marinade as tandoori chicken but cooked on skewers rather than on the bone. The result is more concentrated in flavour — each cube is a jewel of caramelised spice. Chicken tikka is also the starting point for one of the world's most beloved curries, which we come to next.

The Great Curries

Indian curry is not a single dish but a vast family of preparations united by the use of aromatic spices, slow-cooked bases, and sauces that range from thin and brothy to rich and thick. These are the preparations that define Indian cooking for most people, and for good reason.

Butter Chicken (Murgh Makhani)

Perhaps the most internationally celebrated Indian dish, and still among the best. Chicken tikka is simmered in a sauce made from tomatoes, cream, butter, cashews, and a careful selection of whole and ground spices — cardamom, clove, cinnamon are key. The result is a curry of extraordinary depth: simultaneously rich, tangy, slightly sweet, and warmly spiced without aggressive heat. It is, quite simply, one of the most delicious things you can eat. Do not skip it in favour of something more adventurous until you have tried it at least once.

Lamb Rogan Josh

A Kashmiri classic, Rogan Josh uses slow-braised lamb in a sauce coloured deep red by Kashmiri chillies (which are prized for colour and mild, fruity heat rather than intensity). Whole spices — bay leaves, cardamom pods, cloves, dried ginger — give the dish a layered warmth that builds gradually rather than hitting immediately. The lamb should be tender enough to pull apart with a spoon. This is cold-weather cooking at its finest.

Dal Makhani

Black lentils slow-cooked overnight with kidney beans, butter, and cream. The dish requires extraordinary patience — the lentils are simmered for 12 to 18 hours, which transforms them from individual pulses into a silky, unified mass of deep, earthy flavour. Dal Makhani is perhaps the least glamorous-sounding dish on any menu but consistently the one that most surprises and converts those who try it for the first time. Order it alongside a main curry rather than as a replacement.

Palak Paneer

The essential vegetarian option — and one that stands entirely on its own merits rather than simply serving as an alternative for non-meat eaters. Paneer (fresh Indian cheese) is cut into cubes and added to a sauce of blended spinach cooked with garlic, ginger, garam masala, and cumin. The result is a dish that is earthy, lightly spiced, and genuinely satisfying. The texture contrast between the smooth spinach sauce and the firm, mild paneer is exactly right.

Rice, Bread, and Accompaniments

The curries described above are best understood not as standalone dishes but as sauces to be enjoyed alongside the breads and rice that are integral to the Indian meal.

Biryani

A category unto itself, biryani is a meal rather than a side dish. Long-grain basmati rice is layered with marinated meat (typically chicken or lamb), fried onions, saffron, and whole spices, then sealed and slow-cooked so that the rice absorbs the aromatics from the meat below. A well-made biryani should yield fluffy, separate grains of rice that carry the flavour of the meat without becoming waterlogged. Served with raita and a simple salad, it is entirely complete.

Garlic Naan

Leavened dough slapped onto the inner wall of a tandoor and cooked in seconds, blistering and puffing with the intense heat. Garlic naan — brushed with butter and studded with chopped garlic after cooking — is one of the great breads of the world. Use it to scoop curries, to mop sauces, and to eat simply on its own, still warm from the oven. Order at least one more than you think you need.

Mango Lassi

Not food but essential nonetheless: the mango lassi — yoghurt blended with fresh mango pulp, a touch of sugar, and sometimes cardamom — serves as both a refreshing drink and a gentle counterpoint to spiced dishes. It is the perfect companion to a Rogan Josh or a Seekh Kebab, cooling the palate between bites.

Where to Try All of This in Lisbon

The most enjoyable way to work through this list is to choose a restaurant that removes the pressure of choosing just two or three dishes. At Curry King & Grill on Avenida 5 de Outubro, the unlimited dining format means you can order Butter Chicken and Seekh Kebabs and Palak Paneer and a Biryani all in the same meal — and then order more of whichever you loved most. There are no surcharges, no decisions about portion sizes, no dishes you have to leave behind. It is, frankly, the ideal way to explore Indian food.

Lunch is available from 12:00 to 14:00 at €16.90 per person; dinner runs from 19:00 to 23:00 at €19.90. Everything is freshly cooked and brought directly to your table. No buffet, no heat lamps, no compromises.