Put all your trust in Tambarina to be your introduction to Cape Verdean food—or a guiltless indulgence in a plate full of nostalgia. Owner Domingos de Brito overcame discrimination from his neighbors and the police when opening Tambarina in 2011, and he did it all to bring a taste of his home country to Lisbon, where he has spent most of his life. Cape Verde is treasured for being the easy-going, musical archipelago of West Africa and its flavorful corn- and bean-based dishes. Among them is cachupa, a classic dish—and the restaurant’s most popular—made from a base of chickpeas, corn, cassava, sweet potato, and fish or meat.

Tambarina’s presence in Lisbon’s Poço dos Negros neighborhood, an area with a history as a mass grave site for enslaved Africans, represents an active history of overcoming a painful pasts with pride. Eat until your stomach is content, your body sways in its seat to the rhythms of the ever-present nostalgic tunes, and your cup is refilled with grogue (the national liquor of Cape Verde, made from distilled sugar cane).