Flat Cafe

Oh how I miss strolling through the streets of Lisboa and to discover new little cafés. I love mornings in the city. It's quieter. Brunch time is for me about 9 to latest 10 am, so I'm used to be the first one in a brunch place. In Lisboa, this is a good strategy to avoid many people as Portuguese life starts later, normally. However, traveling became very complicated (we all know why) and we are not able to visit Portugal as many times as we used to. Therefore, my sister is the lucky one testing new places for Taste of Portugal.

She tested a new cafe in the center of Lisboa called Flat. It just opened and the concept is based on the main Scandinavian dish – smorrebrod or open toast. The traditional portion has been generously increased and is offered to guests along with a cup of specialty coffee and glass of natural wine (if brunch starts rather late for you).

"Flat” is a dream project of the Russian gastro-enthusiast and the founder of the cafe – Varvara. Five years ago she traveled across Scandinavia. In one small port town called Bergen, she got to know the smorrebrod at a market – a huge piece of rye bread with a lot of shrimp topping caught her eye. She completely fell in love with this image of a Scandinavian simple but at the same time exceptional dish.

In 2021, Varvara moved from St. Petersburg to Portugal and thought: why not open a Scandinavian cafe in the center in Lisbon? This is how the new “Flat Cafe” appeared in the heart of sunny Lisbon – next to the Bica funicular.

The design of the cafe is made in the style of Scandinavian minimalism. The interior is simple, ascetic, but tasteful. Nevertheless, due to candles and hanging lamps, here you can feel unique atmosphere of comfort, just like at home. Even the name itself evokes the sense of warmth. My sister however, preferred to sit outside. She loved the street atmosphere and due to COVID-19 times she felt better.

“Flat Cafe” is a place inspired by Nordic recipes and New Nordic kitchen philosophy. The kitchen takes inspiration from northern recipes, but adapts them to local tastes. Local products are used to the maximum in the kitchen: from Azores salmon and Atlantic tuna, to microgreens and farm vegetables, fruits and roots. Moreover, all the recipes are as northern as possible in their essence. Following the New Nordic philosophy, the kitchen adheres to the principle of zero waste and seasonality.

Smorrebrods or open Scandinavian toasts are the centerpiece of the menu. You’ll find 10 of them on the menu. Scandinavian toast is based on rye bread with various grains and seeds, and on top there is a huge hat of toppings: such as home-salted salmon, roast beef, vegan version with carrot and chickpea hummus. Besides traditional nordic recipes you can taste toasts with Portuguese spirit. For example, toast with octopus or cod. All descriptions are so tasty and unusual that it's easier to come and try them all!

In addition to Scandinavian open toasts, menu includes laconic salads with farm vegetables and homemade dressing, several breakfast items and homemade desserts.

My sisters and her friend loved all their Smorrebrods (Roast beef and dijon sauce, Traditional nordic with gravlax and cream cheese, Veggie toast and Avocado toast) and specially the oat milk cappuccino was delicious. The cinnamon bun was also a winner even if it has no the traditional taste or let's say it had a special twist.

In the near future, Flat Cafe plans to launch delivery through aggregators, so Scandinavia will be closer to Portugal than ever.

More about Flat Cafe: http://flat.cafe.lisbon.tilda.ws/

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