2023 Lisbon Trip (Day Three – Pink Elephant Delirium Café Lisboa)

The pink elephant is a sign that there’s a Delirium bar inside, an international chain of beer venues which are in some quite eclectic locations. They’re mostly in Northern Europe, although there are none in the UK, but they have some out-lying franchises including Lisbon, Rome and Vienna alongside the two far distance locations of Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo. It’s all something of a mix and I hadn’t expected there to be one part way up a hill in Lisbon.

This wasn’t far from our non flaming sausage lunch-stop and it was just Steve and I at this point, with Bev and Susanna rushing off to get value from their Lisbon cards. Steve and I were more looking for a calm and refined beer stop, but that’s our natural sophistication….

The beers are chalked up above the bar, but they are also listed on-line. Customers order at the table and then the drinks and the bill are brought over, with the staff seating customers when it’s busy.

The pink elephant led bar.

This is the Delirium Noel Christmas beer and although late February is just a little past the festive season it had a pleasant element of spice to it and quite warming.

This was more decadent, the Delirium Black Barrel Aged strong ale, weighing in at 11.5%. Decent flavours of caramel and bourbon, full bodied and rich, much smoother than its ABV suggests. I enjoyed sipping at this one, a proper winter drink.

It was generally busy for a Saturday afternoon, but there always a few tables available for walk-ins. The beer selection was wider than I had anticipated, with plenty of options from other breweries although I stuck to Delirium’s offerings since they were tempting enough. They do serve food here such as burgers and nachos as well.

There’s been some significant effort made with the interior design here, it felt an inviting and comfortable venue. It had that mixture of customers enjoying themselves whilst not causing havoc around them, meaning it was busy and vibrant without the risk that a fight might randomly break out.

Plenty of bottle tops, although not as many as Piw Paw Beer Heaven in Warsaw have.

And bottles. The on-line reviews of the venue are generally very positive, although it’s a little difficult to work out what happened here a few weeks ago, either a misplaced attempt to have a date or a translation error.

“I just got kicked out from this place when I asked the waiter for her recomendation where to go for a fun night out in lisbon. Short after the manager showed up and told me it was my last beer (and first) then I had to leave. The manager told me that I had asked her to follow me to my room…. I’m confused. Poor managing”

And this review of:

“What kind of bar doesn’t let you stand?”

Which is one of the few the bar has responded to, noting:

“Of course you can stand, as long as the place you choose to stand doesn’t disturb the service or other customers.”

I’m always interested by the back story to these sort of reviews.

This was a little expensive for around £10 for the two drinks, but this is cheaper than these beers would have likely cost in the UK and so I was content in my little decadent treat. Steve went for a coconut fruit beer from Mongozo which he particularly enjoyed and they have a range of these fruit options which were tempting. The service was timely, friendly and engaging, with the range of beers being wider than I had anticipated. Belgian beers are somewhat of a hole in my knowledge that I’ll have to do something about at some point, particularly if I’m going to find tempting options as good at the beers that were served here. All rather pleasant.