Portuguese food words: 25 words for cafés, restaurants and markets

🇵🇹 PortugueseA1–A225 words

Food is where you will practise Portuguese most: every café order and every restaurant menu is a small lesson. This list covers the meals, the classic dishes and the café words used in Portugal, including the "ementa", the "sumo" and the famous "bica".

Where you will use it: Cafés, restaurants, menus and grocery shopping.

Portuguese food and restaurant words — The word list

Meanings and translations are in English.

Portuguese	Meaning and example
o pequeno-almoço	Breakfast.“Tomo o pequeno-almoço às oito.”I have breakfast at eight.
o almoço	Lunch.“O almoço é servido ao meio-dia.”Lunch is served at noon.
o jantar	Dinner.“Vamos jantar fora hoje?”Shall we eat out tonight?
a ementa	Menu.“Pode trazer a ementa, por favor?”Could you bring the menu, please?
o prato do dia	Dish of the day.“Qual é o prato do dia?”What is the dish of the day?
a bica	Espresso (Lisbon word).“Uma bica e um pastel de nata, por favor.”An espresso and a custard tart, please.
o galão	Milky coffee served in a tall glass.“De manhã bebo sempre um galão.”In the morning I always drink a galão.
o pastel de nata	Portuguese custard tart.“Este pastel de nata ainda está quente.”This custard tart is still warm.
o pão	Bread.“O pão desta padaria é ótimo.”The bread from this bakery is great.
o queijo	Cheese.“Gosto de pão com queijo.”I like bread with cheese.
o peixe	Fish.“Hoje vou pedir peixe grelhado.”Today I'm going to order grilled fish.
o bacalhau	Salted cod.“No Natal comemos bacalhau.”At Christmas we eat salted cod.
a carne	Meat.“Não como carne.”I don't eat meat.
o frango	Chicken.“Queria frango com batatas fritas.”I'd like chicken with chips.
a sopa	Soup.“A sopa de legumes está deliciosa.”The vegetable soup is delicious.
a sobremesa	Dessert.“O que há para sobremesa?”What is there for dessert?
o vinho	Wine.“Um copo de vinho tinto, por favor.”A glass of red wine, please.
a cerveja	Beer.“Duas cervejas, se faz favor.”Two beers, please.
o sumo	Juice.“Queria um sumo de laranja natural.”I'd like a fresh orange juice.
a água com gás	Sparkling water.“Prefiro água com gás.”I prefer sparkling water.
o talho	Butcher's shop.“Comprei a carne no talho.”I bought the meat at the butcher's.
o supermercado	Supermarket.“O supermercado fecha às dez.”The supermarket closes at ten.
a fruta	Fruit.“Como fruta todos os dias.”I eat fruit every day.
delicioso	Delicious.“O polvo estava delicioso!”The octopus was delicious!
Bom apetite!	Enjoy your meal!“A comida chegou. Bom apetite!”The food is here. Enjoy your meal!

Tips for learning Portuguese words

Learn the article with the nounWrite o comboio or a paragem, not just the noun: the article tells you the gender, and adjectives agree with it.
Listen before you speakEuropean Portuguese swallows many unstressed vowels, so words sound shorter than they look. Play the audio and repeat each example aloud.
Type the accentsIn WordNest a missing accent counts as a mistake. Typing água, não and amanhã correctly from the start saves relearning them later.

European, not Brazilian Portuguese

Portugal and Brazil share one language but differ in everyday words, pronunciation and grammar: a train is a comboio in Portugal and a trem in Brazil, and "I am eating" is estou a comer rather than estou comendo. WordNest teaches the Portugal variety — example sentences, pronunciation and AI corrections all follow Portugal's norms.

Add five or six of these words a day rather than the whole list at once, keep the example sentence on the card, and review them when they come due. WordNest schedules each word across seven growing intervals — same day, then 1, 3, 7, 14, 30 and 60 days — so the list is still with you months later. Read how spaced repetition works if you want the reasoning behind those numbers.

European vs Brazilian Portuguese: 50 everyday words that differ →How to learn European Portuguese with WordNest →

Questions about this list

Is this European or Brazilian Portuguese?

European Portuguese, as spoken in Portugal. Where Brazil uses a different word, the list gives the Portugal one — for example comboio instead of trem.

How do I practise Portuguese food and restaurant words?

Start with five words, listen and say each example aloud. Then recall the Portuguese word from its English meaning and review it over several days.

How many words are in this list?

This list contains 25 words and phrases with English meanings and example sentences. It is a starting set, not a complete course.

Study these words with spaced repetition

Create a free account, choose Portuguese as a study language and add these words to your own deck.