Honestly, I rarely get impressed with the breakfast normally served at four-star hotels, but the one I had at Tivoli Jardim Hotel was excellent. Simply extraordinary. I fell in love with this restaurant the minute I stepped into it. Restaurant Olivier Avenida is a restaurant bar during the day/night and breakfast space in the morning, guests are welcome into an utterly unique space to enjoy a wide choice of sumptuous breakfast choices.
Located on the ground floor of Hotel Tivoli, Lisbon is Oliviers, a bar and restaurant is transformed into a breakfast reception every morning. In a beautifully designed space with big crystal chandeliers, breakfast is fun and intriguing at the same time.
The place's architectural wonders:
- A large island buffet welcomes you in the middle of the restaurant
- A few square tables are located on the right side and two benches with animal fur
- An overall metallic beige ambiance
- Metallic reflective and grey material cover the space. In my opinion this is better suited for a nightclub more than a morning area, but its no so bad
- Up the two stairs, you'll find a rectangular room which is the main dining area
- Filling the space, you will find round tables, square ones and a lot of sofas
- On the white walls, brick on one side and decorative panels on the others, a big skull grabs your attention
- Many crystal chandelier pend from the ceiling adding the needed amount of dimmed lighting
- All tables are preset with tissue placemats, salt and pepper mills tend sugar sachets
The buffet choices:
- Still and sparkling water
- Orange, apple and peach juice
- Orange, pineapple, melon, kiwi and bananas cut in large slices
- A fruit salad
- A fruit basket
- Four choices of corn flakes
- Yogurt
- Milk jars
- Honey, strawberry jam, fig and cinnamon jam, orange marmalade
- Chest of turkey
- Butter with and without salt
- Flemish cheese
- Cold meat
- Olive oil
- Bread slices to be toasted
- Mini donuts
- Custard lies
- Plain Croissant
- Multiple cereal and white baguette
- Coffee, hot milk and hot water
- Eggs
- Bacon, sausages and mushrooms
- Almond cake
What I enjoyed... The croissants were superbly light and crusty, the custard cream cakes (Pasteis de Nata) served hot were mouthwatering, the donuts were amazingly tasty, the French baguette were freshly baked on the spot, soft and crunchy, the fig jam with cinnamon was my tasty discovery of the year, the fruits were so fresh and the choice of cheese were prepared the same morning and not removed from the fridge as is.
It is worth waking up early to come and enjoy these fresh creations... And this is what I did everyday during my stay.
A guy called "Jose" will definitely catch your attention. Two of his colleagues didn't show up that morning and he was all alone serving. With a constant smile on his face, he runs around, shouts out, prepares, cleans the tables and more...His 'happy go lucky' behavior will surely put a smile on your face. And this is not to mention his unique laughter that comes from his heart through his throat... you will unconsciously find yourself laughing after him, as if you have just heard a joke.
Jose is one of a kind... he watches all these half asleep people walk into the breakfast room and uses his charm to transform this gloomy feeling into something more positive. In my opinion, he plays a small role in changing the world by putting a smile on people's faces. Bravo Jose.
The second day was just as good as the first one, Jose was here to welcome us with his wide welcoming smile that really changes your mood in seconds. I ate the same thing I had the day before and everything was just as perfect. I had to have those awesome croissants, their pastel de nada again, some fresh fruits as well as eggs and sausages - everything was great.
A pleasant way to start my day...
