I am pretty honest about how lucky I am. One of the aspects of being a stay at home mum is that I get to go out once in a while for lunch. I do not do it as often as you think, but it is something I get to do.

Once a month I do attend a book club where we lunch at member’s houses. Whereas the lunches ‘out’ are reserved typically for going away parties and birthdays. But these lunches where we dine out are typically fantastic. Portugal has so many beautiful spots and such a wide selection of great restaurants.

This past week one of my dearest friends had a birthday lunch. Her request was a patio or veranda with a view. I offered to organize the event and with some research we narrowed down the options to 4 restaurants with ‘esplanadas.’ For myriad reasons we went with Noobai Cafe. It was a gamble as the food reviews were not all great. But every comment was that the view was stunning. It was.

My primary concern was that my darling friend have a happy birthday. I of course also wanted the ladies to enjoy themselves. I am quite confident that we accomplished both.

We all live a little outside of Lisbon, so going in for lunch does not happen often enough. The area where Noobai is located is undergoing some serious renovations. But even ‘under construction’ it is a stunning little corner of Lisbon. I will be honest, I did not love my meal, but the sangrias (there were 5 types to sample:) were fantastic, the view was amazing and the service was very good.

I will go back again to explore and this time my husband might be lucky enough to get an invite.