Many countries have a big city rivalry, and in Portugal, it's no different. Porto and Lisbon are at odds, and we aren't just talking football teams, surfing legends or fado singers. The country remains divided when it comes to its favourite street eat, the bifana.
The almighty bifana, in essence, is a simple sandwich: pork steak seasoned with garlic and spices served in a papo seco, a light and crusty Portuguese bread roll. It's a popular snack: any time seems to be the right time to bite into a bifana, whether you're savouring it as a breakfast or a post-clubbing treat. However, how it's served up is a contentious point.
In the country's capital Lisbon, a bifana is a thin pork steak cooked on a hot plate and served plain. Adventurous diners might add tomato sauce or mustard for extra pizazz to their breaded meal.
Meanwhile, things get dicey in the northern part of the country, including Portugal's second-largest city Porto. Here, the bifana’s pork steak is chopped into smaller pieces and then mixed with piri-piri, bay leaves, garlic, white wine, olive oil and seasoned in a pot of sauce. The bread roll becomes a sponge soaking in the rich flavours of the Portuguese-style stir-fry, but a word of warning: make sure to have enough napkins on standby as this style of bifana can sometimes be messy eat!
The cafe bringing a Portuguese community closer together
Thankfully, savouring the flavours of a bifana is not limited to just Portugal.
Helena Antonio and her pastry chef husband Antonio Martins moved to Australia eleven years ago after leaving their hometown of Portimão in Portugal's Algarve region. They eventually opened up a Portuguese cafe, Portuguese Delights, in the Perth suburb of Cockburn, an area with a significant Portuguese population, to offer authentic flavours of their homeland. Wide-ranging treats can be found on the menu, including piri-piri chicken, pastéis de nata (custard tarts), pastéis de bacalhau (cod cakes), and, of course, the bifana.
"People from the local Portuguese community come here for breakfast to have the bifana," Helena Antonio tells SBS Food.
In her homeland, devouring a bifana isn't just limited to mornings though.
"Some people like to have the bifana with a small glass of white wine or a mini beer. Or it's very popular when you finish at night, go to the discotheque at two, three, four in the morning, and you're hungry, you have a bifana," she says.
People from the local Portuguese community come here for breakfast to have the bifana.
And although it's quick to consume, she takes days to prepare her much-loved bifana recipe, which comes from the south of Portugal.
"For my marinade, I put salt, bay leaves, crushed garlic and a bit of vinegar. Then I leave it for two or three days."
According to the cafe owner, the flavour of the bifana also comes down to what meat cut is used.
"The key to making a good bifana is using good meat such as pork scotch fillet steak, because it's more tender. You need to cook the meat with a bit of fat, because pork's fat makes the flavour of the meat," she says.
Although it takes days to marinate the meat, it takes much less time to cook it.
"When you cook the meat, you fry it for a minute. I usually put a bit of extra virgin olive oil and some garlic when cooking for extra taste."
A carby snack that takes less time to cook than a packet of two-minute noodles? I’m sold.
Bifana
This pork-filled Portuguese sandwich is highly snackable, so don't be surprised by the quantity (or the fact you'll probably go in for round two). This recipe produces a good party-sized amount of bifana serves.
Makes 35
Ingredients
- 150 g salt
- 300 ml white vinegar
- 2 heads peeled garlic, smashed
- 4 bay leaves, crushed
- 6 kg pork scotch fillet, thinly sliced
- Pork lard, for frying
- Extra virgin olive oil, for frying
- 35 small crusty bread rolls
- Tomato sauce, optional
- Mustard, optional
- Mayonnaise, optional
Method
- Start this recipe two days ahead. To make the marinade, combine the salt, vinegar, garlic and bay leaves in a plastic or Tupperware container. Add the sliced pork, close the container and refrigerate for two days.
- Heat an equal amount of lard and oil in a large frypan over high heat.
- Fry the steaks in batches until cooked, about 30 seconds per side.
- To serve, cut a bread roll in half and top with the fried steak mixture.
- For extra flavour, add tomato sauce, mustard or mayonnaise to taste.
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