Soul of Lisbon

The independent French publisher Jonglez has come up with a clever new series to rival its series of ‘Secret’ guides.

We love the ‘Secret’ books that Jonglez publishes, and have reviewed Secret Liverpool, Secret Amsterdam, Secret Dublin, Secret Edinburgh, Secret Rome, and a few more. We were curious, then, to see that they’d started a new series called ‘Soul of…’, so how could these be different from the ‘Secret’ guides, and would they be as good? The answer is that yes, they are different not only from the ‘Secret’ guides but from any other guidebooks we’ve seen, and yes, they are just as good.

The first three titles in the series are to Los Angeles, Tokyo, and Lisbon, an interesting choice of destinations. The sub-title of each is ‘A guide to 30 exceptional experiences’, so they’re not going to be a complete guide to a place but are meant to complement conventional guidebooks. They aim to present 30 experiences that convey the soul of the city, things you can only experience in that city.

Soul of Lisbon

Lisbon isn’t a city I know inside-out but I have spent quite a bit of time there, and love it. It definitely has its own character, its own food… its own soul.

The back of the book is a little puzzling at first. Like the whole book the design is both minimal and stylish. All it says is this:

LISBON

POPULATION: 2 MILLION

RESTAURANTS: 7,000

WE TESTED 1,000 PLACES

AND INCLUDED ONLY THE 30 BEST

 So at first it seemed like this was a guide to the 30 best restaurants in Lisbon, but no. There are many restaurants included, but this is a guide to the 30 best experiences in the city. And would two authors really be able to visit 1,000 places in order to find the 30 best, for a book that is only a slim 128 pages in size? Knowing something about the economics of guidebook publishing, I’d say no, though I could be doing them a disservice..

The Authors

The book tells you nothing about the authors, but they do have distinctive names, Lauriane Gepner and Fany Péchiodat, names that are easily Googled. It seems they’re both writers in Paris, and Jonglez is based just outside Paris, in Versailles, and Fany Péchiodat is also co-author of Soul of Tokyo. Can she really be an expert in three such very different cities as Paris, Tokyo, and Lisbon? Well, there’s only one way to find out – read the book.

Reading Soul of Lisbon

And after reading Soul of Lisbon – which I did with great pleasure in one sitting on a plane journey, though unfortunately not to Lisbon – I can say that the authors have done a brilliant job. I wanted to go immediately to Lisbon and start trying some of these unusual experiences they’ve discovered.

Lisbon Restaurants

There are a number of Lisbon restaurants included in the 30 experiences, as how can you get to the soul of a city like Lisbon, or any city in southern Europe, without talking about its food culture? You might wonder why you would want to buy a book that has only 30 experiences in it. Well, this is no ordinary guidebook. When it comes to restaurants they don’t pick out dozens, as many guidebooks do, and you know full well that the authors couldn’t possibly have eaten in every one.

Soul of Lisbon singles out truly exceptional eating places, not because they are Michelin-starred or historic, but because they represent the essence of Lisbon. The first one, for instance, is Santa Clara dos Cogumelos, and the headline tells you it’s ‘The Chef Who Cooks Nothing But Mushrooms’. Cogumelo is the Portuguese word for a type of mushroom, and the menu is indeed, from starters to desserts, nothing but dishes containing mushrooms and truffles. The description in Soul of Lisbon is only one paragraph long, but it will make you want to go there immediately, especially when you know the very low prices on the menu.

The descriptions may be short, and they are mostly limited to one long paragraph, but they are well-written and evocative. They’re followed by all the practical information you need, including price range, opening hours, address, phone, and whether you need to make reservations or if it’s first-come first-served. For some reason websites aren’t included, which would be a welcome addition.

LOCAL

The second entry is also a restaurant, and shows the strength of the book, as in LOCAL they’ve found a restaurant which has three chefs but only one table (although it does seat ten people). There’s only one menu of five courses that celebrate traditional Portuguese cuisine, and the chefs prepare the dishes right in front of you.

Books and Views

Other examples of places the authors have uncovered include a bookstore that holds 3,000 books but only has room for one customer at a time! They tell you where you can run laps on a rooftop with fabulous views of Lisbon, another rooftop where you can watch a movie, and yet another where you can sip a cocktail while enjoying the view. They also cover the best shops, hotels, and other Lisbon experiences, and squeeze in a few interviews with interesting local people as well.

Fado in Lisbon

If you’re a music fan, it will be worth buying this book for one entry alone, as the authors describe a hard-to-find restaurant where many of the city’s fado singers go when they’ve finished performing for the night. As well as enjoying a late-night meal and a drink, they’ll often start performing again just for each other, and for the love of it.

Layout

The book is very attractively designed, as you can see from the sample spreads on this page, and has some terrific photography. Some of the places that are written about get a double-page of colour photos after their regular one-page entry.

The Verdict

In short, Jonglez has come up with another very original series, a way of capturing a destination in 30 select experiences. I’ll be watching for more titles, definitely.