Taberna Do Mercado

This is a unique place. One can sense love and proud in every aspect of this stablisment. Not only the food is top of the range quality prepared with care also the service is (what word would describe...?) brilliant! Having visited Taberna a few times one can only feel very fortunate to be a customer, just a privilege in every level

Nuno does it again. But this time in a relaxed atmosphere with a wholesome, thoughtful approach to Portuguese classics with a creative twist. The tinned fish are fresh and succulent. The place is casual like an urban food hall with a gastro-foodie vibe. Reminds me of the mercados in Lisbon but the plate are more carefully selected for a discerning pallet. I would have appreciated more effort concerning the wines but to be fair, we were late for our reservation. Get there early and pick their brains a bit more and order well. Will return!

I've visited more than my hands can count, for a portuguese living around the corner, this is the best way to make sure I don't miss home. Good wines, great produce, cooked to the standard you'd find in Portugal. The prego, the bifana , the pasteis, the green bean, pão de ló, rissois, the cheese, charcuterie,... everything is very original and of amazing quality, never ever disappoints... Service is spot on!

Best Portuguese Restaurant and tapas house in London. Outstanding portuguese wine selection, all the best Portuguese winemakers are proud when their wines get to be listed. The selection of wines includes several very small producers, and exclusive vintages. Best place in London for fans of Portuguese wine and petiscos.

Amazing! Small plates restaurant from Viajante chef Nuño Mendes. The seafood tins are incredible and the custard in port wine dessert is worth the effort alone.

Staff were fantastic, really enthusiastic. Gave us fantastic recommendations and a lot of information on the dishes. Really really tasty. The tarts were divine.

I was lucky enough to go to their soft opening and it's great that a Portuguese restaurant has opened because there's not many choices with this cuisine here in London. The place itself is really nice but with an intimate feel, so felt really comfortable there the minute I walked in. We ordered all types dishes, our favourites were definitely the cured meat and fish choices, and their desserts were phenomenal. I wasn't a fan of their kimchi cabbage one though. Overall we loved the food but the prices are pretty steep, more than 30 a person with already half-price off the food. So definitely not a place to have a full stomach, which is unfortunate because when I was in Portugal the food is not only super cheap but filling.

From the time we arrived the staff were friendly , welcoming and extremely accommodating. Our waitress did a great job with guiding us through the menu and recommending dishes and wine that we were sure to enjoy. Love the food. Fresh , delicious and flavoursome. I'll definitely be back and highly recommend it.

Cosy place, pretty much everything on the menu is to share. We really liked the food although some people may not as that use quite a bit of olive oil. Definitely worth a try.

Despite the portuguese name, this restaurant does not serve typical portuguese food. The food is tasty and a nice variation of some typical dishes. But be prepared to order several dishes per person, because they come in small amounts. It's nice to share several with friends...

It's all about the finest products. Very interesting selection of Wines!

Very nice, passionately prepared food with interesting dishes....pigs tails, cod tongue etc. Wine list great, a little on the expensive side and a sommelier to give advice. I'd go back!

I haven’t yet sat down properly and dined here. But I did pass and get one of the delightful Pastel De Nata’s. It’s sinfully fresh and moreish and much goe-er than you would usually find which i enjoyed!

Really enjoyed our Sunday evening dinner. The menu required a lot of googling / checking with the waiter, but well worth the effort. Not the cheapest tapas around, but far better than the standard fried cheese and whitebait!

i had dinner here last night. made a booking online a few days prior and arrived at the restaurant expecting to see a full house – but it was empty! turns out that everyone was seated at the 'outside' heater terrace which did look warm and inviting, but we chose to seat 'inside' for a quiet meal. food was great (cod tongue, pao de lo, beef sandwich, green bean fritters were amazing!) but service was lacking. the manager was friendly, but *especially* friendly to the table beside us, who seemed to be his friends. it got slightly annoying when he stood over our table to watch/talk to them. we ordered two cups of tea to go with dessert that never came. shame because i really needed something to wash down that beautifully moist pao de lo cake! i can see why some people think the portions are small for the price. but i would definitely come back again, for lunch.

Tapas Portuguese style. A delightful little restaurant of Nuno Mendes fame. Cool place to eat with friends small groups or large. Food is creative and delicious. Lively atmosphere but service is a bit slow. I was told by my Portuguese friend that the food is authentic with a London twist. You must try the Pasteis de nada! We went there to eat again last night. We loved all the dishes we ordered. The Bean starter was divine and the steak sandwich was very delicious. We ordered the pork chop which was very expensive £45 (£11 per kg) and whilst it was delicious there were hardly any meat and I mean literally hardly any meat lots of fat which gives the flavour but you could not even get three bites out of it then £45 is a lot. It was good quality but certainly very poor value for money for that dish. It is still a lovely neighbourhood restaurant with a good decent atmosphere just be careful what you ordered.

Temptingly presented small plates that do not disappoint with big flavours. Good wine. Loses a star for having run out of most of the specials by 7.30pm, and for being cramped but you'd expect that given the location and its trendiness.

A much awaited return to East London of cult chef (and my personal favourite) Nuno Mendez, after the closure of Viajante in Bethnal Green and the setup of wildly successful Chiltern Firehouse in Mayfair. The Portuguese-inspired eatery is quite a simple affair, replacing the cheesemonger Androuet in the soulless court inside Spitalfields market, with only a handful of tables and a small bar space. The decor is unremarkable if for small touches, like the tasteful copper accents on the menus. The headline promises "comida — vinho — petiscos" (food, wine, snacks) and it does indeed deliver against this minimalist promise at the quite exceptional standard that you would expect from Nuno. I went for lunch (when you can book) and with a friend we tried to eat as much as appetite permitted to try as many of the small plates as possible. Favourites were "alheira molhada" (a chicken - yes, chicken- and breadcrums sausage), prawn rissois (little crescents of intensely umami crustaceans) and a delectable tin of plump scallops in brown butter, served with amazing toasted sourdough. The menu has a whole section called "house tinned fish" and I'll be back to try more of it, perhaps with some cured meats and way more wine than I can drink on a weekday lunch. I was less convinced by a pigs trotters and cuttlefish dish (too flat for me after the flavour explosion of the prawn) and by a dessert consisting of a slice of sweet bread in a plateful of coffe, with a heavy butter sauce. But knowing the chef's style, this is the kind of experimentation -without affectation- that you would expect, and I can't wait to see how the menu evolves or what would be Nuno's next project.

strikingly good combination of mediterranean flavour with london panache; we sat outside in the internal courtyard and enjoyed the grill smoke, monkfish and tins, beans and cod and a bomb of specialty olive&egg melt thing that was quite something. nicely done.

Nice place but the food is not that Portuguese. Very small plates and expensive. The staff is very kind and they even offer some things when we were waiting for a bit

I was hesitant to try this place as it's a very meat-heavy menu at first glance but was very surprised that actually they had a number of good choices and the portion size were appropriate for sharing (among three). We went on a rainy Sunday lunch time and was given a table outside (undercover of Spitalfields Market) which is what we wanted – and was close to the specials board full of meat / seafood options that sounded interesting and tempting to my companions. As a veggie, the standout dish was the broad bean fritters (although i didn't understand why it was in a bowl of watery broth). Dessert wise, we all agreed the olive oil cake exceeded expectations – It was like eating baked custard. Be warned, it’s a sharing portion so do share it! I want to go back for their breakfast – it’s the only time they serve the oozy Portuguese Nata Tarts!

Taberna Do Mercado is located in the buzzing and picturesque Old Spitalfields Market one of the finest surviving Victorian Market Halls in London (built in 1876). While Taberna Do Mercado in the only Portuguese restaurant in the surrounding area it competes with a lot of other restaurants and cuisines. The restaurants offers outside seating overlooking the market as well as indoor seating, giving diners a choice on the seating arrangement. The menu is simple and focuses on popular Portuguese sharing dishes including cured meats, sandwiches, tinned fish, cheeses and snacks. I visited Taberna Do Mercado on a Wednesday for lunch with a business colleague as we were looking for table service and Iberian food in the area. The Prawn Rissóis was delicate and full of flavor. The tinned octopus and Dorset char where bland in taste. On the other hand the Bifana, a pork sandwich was flavorsome and highly recommended. The serving sizes are made relatively small and made for sharing in the style of Spanish tapas.The service was probably the highlight of the lunch - friendly, warm, attentive and knowledgeable. The bill for two people including seven dishes and two beers was £65.25 including the service charge with the average price per dish of £8.50. If you are looking for a proper sit down Portuguese meal, Taberna Do Mercado is not recommended. However if you are looking for a quick bite while visiting the market, give it a try. There is other better Portuguese restaurants within the Shoreditch area including Eyre Brothers.

Came for lunch on bank holiday (our first choice was shut). Very friendly staff and no wait to be seated. Menu sounded and looked exciting (Portuguese tapas or "petischos") but food however wasn't that flavourful. Prawn rissois, green bean fritters (like tempura), even the special piri piri chicken were lacklustre. Octopus was much better - colourful and zingy - as were the sandwiches (beef prego and pork bifana, although the bifana benefitted from addition of Portuguese mustard). Negronis and recommended Portuguese red excellent. All came to £35ish a head, so fair but not cheap for lunch. Overall bit of a shame as with the super friendly and helpful staff I really wanted to love this place.

Restaurant and service was nice but the dishes are a bit hit and miss. The highlight was definitely the pork bifana. Green bean fritters and croquetas were nice as well. I would return but only to eat the bifana and try a dessert which I didn't have room for.

I came here to celebrate my birthday with my partner. They wanted the table back at 9:30pm even though we booked for a 7:30pm seating. The disappointing bit was the waiter suggested to reserved today's dessert "pastel de nata tart" dish which we did and never received at the end of the night

Probably the best Portuguese egg tarts you can find in London. However food is expensive there. You can easily spend over £50 per head for dinner.

Some great dishes, some poor dishes. Should be excellent really the places in Lisbon it is based on are excellent. Slightly odd location due to it being inside the market. Service was ok

Food was good but terrible service. After I finished my meal, no one came to ask for dessert. I gave up. Even though I really want to try one of the desserts. So I asked for the bill. It took me 15 minutes to find a staff for the bill, then no one came again!! I was sitting there for other 15 minutes to pay for my bill. I knew one of the staffs saw me there, but he was ignoring me until he finally finished all the cleaning and serving(to other customers). Very disappointed!!

Very pretentious and overrated. The sever highly recommended the two most expensive dishes (£22-£25 for tapas size) on the menus that came out no different than a £10-£15 dishes we had in some of the other restaurants. The sever and the manager didn't really care about asking how the dishes were after we ordered them. Be careful with the ££ they advertised on Google. In reality it is more like between £££ to ££££ depending on who you have as your server.

Have dinner first and then pop in for a snack! Good service, taste was OK but we left hungry and ate dessert elsewhere. We had run out of things to try on the menu after trying all the tiny tins of fish.

Awful service! I went in for wine only with a friend. As we walked in we were greeted by a semi grumpy member of staff. We sat down and I tried to make conversation with the second member of staff who came to take our order. I asked if he was Portuguese - as he was I spoke Portuguese to him. Asked where he was from and he said Porto. I then made a comment "is that why most of your wines are from Northern Portugal?". His answer was "Are you out of your mind?" (Estas-te a passar? were his words). He went on to very arrogantly say they had varied choice and that Douro was simply the best demarcated wine region in the world. (it is the oldest but arguably the best). I was so taken aback I wasn't able to say anything. We ordered the wine, drank it and swiftly moved along to Vagabond just across the market square. The food is probably lovely but the staff were the most arrogant, rudest and dismissive I've encountered. Sorry I cannot recommend it.

Food is very nice, original and tasty, but service is slow and very distant (seems like you are disturbing them although the restaurant is almost empty). All dishes are starters and "small plates" with only samples of food in it so simply avoid this place if you are hungry. Prices, especially compared to quantities are, as someone else said, ridiculous.

Only had drinks, food sounded nice but apparently there is only 1 menu to share for the whole restaurant so takes ages to even see what is on the menu, prices are pretty high. Staff where friendly but everything seemed a little clunky and confused.

Disappointed with the experience. I am Portuguese and love Portuguese food. From the different "petiscos" I tried, only one met the expectations, the "peixinhos da horta" even though it was slightly oily. The rest were bland or overcooked with flavours that are a far cry from the Portuguese cuisine. The service was bad, the waitress not welcoming and dismissive with no care to details like asking if I needed another drink (removed empty glass without asking if she could and didn't offer refill), no plate change from starter to main dish. Overpriced small portions with bad service. To make the experience worse left the place with my clothes smelling like food, maybe they need to have better air extraction in the kitchen. Flavour not Portuguese at all. Not to repeat.

Food Poisoning - Not even sorry from the restaurant!! The food taste was ok but over priced. My husband ended up throwing up a £200 meal within minutes of paying the bill (we ordered the seafood rice between other dishes). The staff didn't sympathise or apologise and only kept defending themselves that they had received the batch of seafood that morning. DO NOT GO THERE!! or if you do, take a bucket with you!

Waiter was very friendly and helpful despite a misunderstanding. General manager was patronising and had awful people skills, made the whole experience very uncomfortable and not worth while. We will not be returning. Food was good - especially the pork dish.

My second time going to taberna do mercado, and the service was just as bad as the first time. Iv never written a review on here before but I felt the need after my second visit. All of the food we ordered tasted exceptional which is why I came back in the first place!.I thought the bad service was a one off..but it wasn’t the second time was just as bad,anyway The cods roe came in a sardine tin at first with nothing else. we were a table of four and I can’t say how stupid you feel when four people are trying to split a sardine tin before the bread has even arrived which came 10 mins after the sardine tin..anyway the bread came and we asked to have an extra slice so there was four peices and the waiter answered back and said this is the portion we give..over a slice of bread! the waiter missed an order which we waited 45 mins.. all of the waiters were standing around on their phones and just seemed distant like they just don’t care.

food and wine was pretty good (portions on the smaller side so don't go there if you're hungry). but service was the reason for one star. there was a very pleasant waiter, one which was cold buy polite, though border unpleasant, and one which was rude borderline of picking up a fight. that one is easy to recognize as he is tall and wears fancy glasses. he sanpped when he was asked if he would mind clear a stain of cream off the table. to his defence, it was late into the evening, ie towards the end of a busy saturday shift, so he snapped and just grabbed most rudely the napkins in front of two guests at our table, almost hitting my head in the process, and went off to bring the cloth to then histrionically procced to cleaning the whole table. we ignored his tantrum and finished off quitetly and left as if nothing happened. but we won't forget.

A restaurant never to return again. After questioning several times about the quality of the restaurant's food "from which I was guaranteed 100% reliable" because I am allergic to various types of food and as I am pregnant the care is doubled ... In this what a surprise when I take a plate of cod with chick peas, and when I take two forks to my mouth, I notice a worm in my dish stirring ... Horrible experience...

Service was terrible and the manager seriously need to learn how to be welcoming. She put us at the worst table in the middle although there were plenty of empty tables and didn't allow us to change table or even the way the chairs were set. One of our orders never arrived and we were told that the kitchen informed nothing was missing from their part... The food is blend, small portions and overpriced. We had to ask for the bill a few times, send it back to correct it and they included a service charge (!) and no apologising gesture was made. We were not even thanked for coming, let alone did we receive any apologies. We are easygoing but this restaurant ruined our night and we will not be coming back.