Seafood Pasta in Lisbon: Clams, Bottarga and Sea Bass, the Italian Way

What is on the menu

The seafood sits across every course rather than in a separate section. From the current menu:

• Piatto Costa Smeralda — Spaghetti con vongole e bottarga — spaghetti with clams and bottarga, €26.00
• Trofie spigola e limone — trofie with sea bass and lemon, €23.00
• Risotto scampi e arance — risotto with langoustines and orange, €25.00
• Polipo all'arrabbiata con pane Carasau — spicy octopus with Carasau bread, €25.00
• Involtini di sogliola — sole rolls with asparagus, truffle, Tuscan pecorino and potatoes, €32.00
• Carpaccio di spigola e tartufo — sea bass carpaccio with truffle, €23.00
• Tartare di tonno — tuna tartare with burrata stracciatella and truffle, €23.00
• Bruschetta di gamberi — shrimp, cherry tomato and buffalo cheese fondue, €18.00
• Sedano e bottarga — celery and mullet bottarga, €9.00

The full menu, with the Roman pastas it is built around, is on the homepage.

Vongole and amêijoas: two coasts, one shellfish

Lisbon already has a great clam dish. Amêijoas à Bulhão Pato — clams opened in olive oil and garlic, finished with coriander and lemon — is on menus all over the city, and it is the reference point most visitors bring to the table.

Spaghetti alle vongole is the Italian coast's answer to the same shellfish: clams opened in olive oil and garlic, usually with white wine, parsley and a little chilli, and their juices tossed through the pasta until it carries the sea. The Portuguese version is eaten with bread; the Italian one uses the pasta to do the mopping up.

Il Matriciano's version adds bottarga, and names the plate after the Costa Smeralda, the north-eastern coast of Sardinia.

What bottarga is

Bottarga is cured, pressed and dried fish roe. The menu here uses mullet bottarga, the kind most associated with Sardinia. It is grated or sliced over a dish at the end, and it does what Pecorino does for a Roman pasta: adds salt, depth and a long finish in a very small quantity.

You can taste it on its own before committing to the pasta. Sedano e bottarga — celery and mullet bottarga, €9.00 — is the simplest plate on the menu, and the clearest way to find out whether you like it. It also appears in the Burrata ai 4 sapori, alongside truffle, anchovies and Genovese pesto.

The Sardinian thread runs through the octopus as well: pane Carasau, the thin, crisp Sardinian flatbread, is served with the spicy octopus.

Seafood has a history on this street

This is not a new idea for the owners. In 2016, co-founder Alessandro Laganà opened a second restaurant on the same block, at Rua de São Bento 99, given over entirely to the Italian seafood kitchen. Observador reviewed it that July:

"To prove that fish and shellfish can be the stars of Italian cooking, Alessandro Lagana opened a second restaurant. After Il Matriciano, Il Matriciano Al Mare. The name says it all."

— Observador, 19 July 2016, by Tiago Pais · translated from Portuguese

Visão made the same point the day before:

"It isn't only pizzas, lasagnes and pasta that reach us from Italy. Typical dishes come from there too, made by hand, with very Portuguese fish and shellfish."

— Visão, 18 July 2016, by Inês Rapazote · translated from Portuguese

The sister pizzeria Sora Lella now operates at nº 99; the seafood dishes are on the menu at nº 107.

Italian pantry, local catch

The kitchen imports from Italy what travels — the Pecorino from Fulvi, the guanciale from Sano di Amatrice, the dry pasta from Verrigni and La Pasta di Aldo. The fresh produce does not come from Italy. Reviewing the restaurant for MAGG in 2022, Rafaela Simões drew exactly that line:

"The truth is that we were not in Italy, nor did we have the Pope in sight, but rather a true Italian kitchen with excellent products (except the fresh ones) brought from the land of the boot."

— MAGG, 6 February 2022, by Rafaela Simões · translated from Portuguese

For seafood pasta in a city that eats as much fish as Lisbon does, that is the right way round: Italian technique and an Italian pantry, with the fresh ingredients bought fresh.

What diners say about the clams

"The best pasta with clams I have ever eaten (better than some places in Italy I would add)."

— Sharon D, Tripadvisor, February 2026 · translated from Italian

What to drink with seafood pasta

Shellfish and bottarga want a white with salt and freshness rather than oak. The list has the obvious Sardinian match: Vermentino from Argiolas, €8 by the glass or €27 a bottle — and, for an occasion, the Vermentino from Capichera at €85. From Campania, the Falanghina from Feudi di San Gregorio is €9 by the glass. The full list is at Our Wines, and the wider pairing guide is Italian Wine in Lisbon.

If you are eating as two and want one seafood course inside a Roman meal, Dinner for Two in Lisbon sets out how to order.

Where and when

Il Matriciano — Rua de São Bento 107, 1200-816 Lisbon, directly opposite the Assembleia da República. Monday to Saturday: lunch 12:30–15:00, dinner 19:30–23:00. Closed on Sundays.

Phone: +351 213 952 639 · Email: ilmatriciano.info@gmail.com