Dutch Treat is the first Black-owned restaurant on Lisbon’s Green Street. Also known as Rua da Silva, Green Street is a popular street that stands out for its visual concept of sustainability and greenery.

When co-owner Daniel Paulina opened the restaurant in 2019, he wanted to bring some Dutch and Caribbean flair to Lisbon.

Paulina is a Curaçao native, an island in the Caribbean colonized by the Dutch.  After spending some time in the Netherlands, he moved to Lisbon where he has been an expat for several years working in a call center. He quickly learned that it wasn’t the life for him.

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“Working in a call center was unbearable, and I didn’t want to go back to The Netherlands as it’s too cold, and I didn’t want to go back to Curaçao,” Paulina tells Travel Noire. “I asked myself, ‘what do people not have here in Lisbon?’”

The answer to his question was a Dutch bar.

“It’s the only one of its kind in Lisbon,” Paulina told Travel Noire. “It’s the only Dutch snack bar in Lisbon.”

On the menu are Oorlog Fries – fries served with mayonnaise, peanut sauce, and fresh onions; tasty sandwiches; meat skewers; Bitterballen; and more.

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Paulina says since opening, the support has been amazing, especially as the first Black-owned restaurant on Lisbon’s Green Street.

“A lot of people wanted to do something like this before me but didn’t succeed for some reason,” he says.  “We now have an African restaurant across the street called Mambo, which is amazing.  It’s amazing that I was able to open doors for other Black businesses because now we see the potential, a Black people, that we have here. We have to support each other.”

So, what’s next?

Paulina says he hopes to open Dutch Treat in more neighborhoods throughout Lisbon!

You can find more information about the shop on Instagram.