A small traditional Portuguese fado dining house on the steep Calcada Cardeal in the historic central Alfama district of Lisbon, Fado 31 is one of the principal continuing intimate fado dinner venues of the wider historic central district of the Portuguese capital. The restaurant operates a continuous evening fado dinner programme six days per week throughout the year and provides one of the principal smaller-scale alternatives to the various larger commercial fado dinner houses of the surrounding historic central Lisbon district. The restaurant follows the traditional intimate Portuguese fado tasca model, combining a substantial traditional Portuguese dinner with a continuous evening fado music programme in a small intimate physical setting. The principal dining room consists of a single ground floor space with seating capacity for approximately forty individual dining guests across the various small tables. The smaller scale of the venue provides a substantially more intimate physical environment than the various larger commercial fado dinner houses around the surrounding central Alfama district. The principal nightly fado programme typically consists of around four individual fado sets spread across the four-hour evening dining service from approximately twenty hundred until midnight. Each individual fado set lasts around twenty to twenty-five minutes and includes a substantial selection of the principal traditional fado repertoire alongside several individual contemporary fado compositions from the wider modern professional Lisbon fado community. The principal accompaniment consists of the standard two-musician Portuguese guitar and classical guitar ensemble. The standard fado dinner menu provides a substantial selection of the principal traditional regional Portuguese culinary specialities. The principal opening courses include the standard traditional Portuguese cured pork and cheese platters, the various traditional regional pates and the substantial traditional caldo verde green soup. The principal main course options include the traditional bacalhau cod preparations alongside several principal regional Portuguese meat specialities including the traditional Alentejo pork and clams cataplana, the traditional Trasmontano roast pork and various other principal regional Portuguese stew preparations. The principal individual performers at Fado 31 are drawn from the wider continuing professional and semi-professional Lisbon fado community across the surrounding historic central Lisbon district. The smaller commercial scale of the venue tends to favour the various individual performers from the wider amateur and semi-professional fado community rather than the principal commercial professional fado performers of the various larger commercial fado dinner houses. The principal house fado performers include several long-serving traditional fado singers who have been performing at the venue continuously for over a decade.

Type: Restaurant

Address: Calcada Cardeal 12, Lisbon, Portugal