Some went looking for Easter eggs I’m more the finding new types of canned fish type of gal.
During this Easter I had the chance of visiting the “Loja das Conservas“, which is a shop located in Lisbon’s downtown. Here you can find many different brands of canned fish and seafood. Actually, there are two of these shops in Lisbon: one in Rua do Arsenal 130 and another one in Praça das Flores 62. I visited the first one and I must say I found it really cool! They have many different Portuguese brands represented and a lot of variety to choose from! The employees are really nice and speak several languages, so if you’re a foreigner in town I’m sure you’ll feel welcomed at this shop. Your only difficulty will be to calculate how many cans you can pack in your luggage. I booked a whole bag in my Ryanair flight just for it…well that, and couple of nice bottles of wine;)
Note that by saying foreigners are welcomed at this shop, I don’t mean it’s for tourists only! Not at all. I felt at home navigating through the shop. The employee who was taking care of me underlined that the objective of these shops is also to make sure the Portuguese people get to know these exquisite products.
As you may have read in a previous post of mine, high quality canned fish manufacturers export most of their production. Mainly due to the above average price of the products. One important information about this shop is that they do not overprice their products in spite of their location, which is for sure inviting for everyone. Slowly but steadily things are changing and Portuguese are starting to appreciate much more quality canned fish. Initiatives like this one from the ANICP – Associação Nacional dos Industriais de Conservas de Peixe (National Association of Manufacturers of canned fish) definitively play a big role.
So, if you’re in Lisbon, Portuguese or not, and like canned seafood, visiting this shop is also well worth a visit! Well, not exactly…either you like canned seafood or not, you should give it a try, since you might find other interesting surprises as well! You can even can a secret message for you loved one…Isn’t that cool?
fishintin 