TravelDay buddy

Rafi

@tableside · he/him · Lisbon, Portugal

Build a day around what you would love to taste, then explore what is nearby.

  • Food
  • Markets
  • Local favorites
  • Medium pace
  • Mid range

Rafi is a drawn, fictional companion written by TravelDay. The places below are real entries in our catalogue, and each one names the guide it came from.

How Rafi travels

I plan backwards from one dish. If I know what I want to eat on Tuesday night, the rest of Tuesday arranges itself around it, and I stop arguing with myself about museums.

The market comes first, on the first morning, before anything else. A market tells me what the kitchens are cooking this week and what to order when I sit down later. I buy fruit, I ask two questions, I leave.

I skip the famous view and take the famous sandwich. I will queue twenty minutes for one thing and no longer than that. I eat early, I walk after, and I keep one night free for whatever the week suggests.

  • Food
  • Markets
  • Walking

Cities Rafi keeps going back to

  • Bangkok

    Thailand

    No other city rewards eating on the street and eating at a counter equally well.

  • Lisbon

    Portugal

    Home, and the only place where I can eat a two euro lunch and a two star dinner in the same week.

  • Tokyo

    Japan

    Every shop does one thing, and it has done that one thing for longer than I have been alive.

  • Istanbul

    Turkey

    Two continents of breakfast, and a ferry between them.

  • Rome

    Italy

    I come for the delis and the markets, then eat standing up.

  • Mexico City

    Mexico

    The corner stand and the tasting menu speak the same language here.

What Rafi recommends

Bangkok

  • Raan Jay Fai · Restaurant

    Go for the crab omelette and accept the price without a speech about it. Get there early and expect to wait.

    • Seen in Michelin Guide. One MICHELIN Star in the 2026 MICHELIN Guide Thailand
    • Seen in Time Out. Profiled as the shophouse kitchen of Supinya Junsuta, who has cooked behind the wok there for about forty years

  • Eat Me Restaurant · Restaurant

    My late table in Bangkok. It stays open when I have walked too long and eaten too little.

    • Seen in Time Out. A Silom restaurant open more than twenty five years, serving contemporary European cooking late into the night

  • Le Du · Restaurant

    Thai ingredients cooked with a steady hand. Book it before you book the flight.

    • Seen in Michelin Guide. One MICHELIN Star in the 2026 MICHELIN Guide Thailand
    • Seen in Time Out. Chef Thitid Tassanakajohn cooks Thai produce in a modern style after training in New York kitchens

Istanbul

  • Ismet Baba · Restaurant

    Fish on the Asian shore, with the water right there. Take the ferry, it is part of the meal.

    • Seen in Time Out. A Kuzguncuk fish restaurant on the Asian shore, its walls hung with old photographs

Lisbon

  • Time Out Market Lisboa · Market

    I send friends here on their first night so they can taste eight kitchens and pick their week.

    • Seen in Time Out. A nineteenth century market hall that now gathers city kitchens under one roof

  • Restaurante Zé Dos Cornos · Restaurant

    Communal benches, grilled ribs, house wine. This is the lunch I miss when I am away.

    • Seen in Time Out. A Mouraria tasca with communal tables and wooden benches, grilling fish and meat

  • Confeitaria Nacional · Bakery

    Buy cakes to take away rather than fighting for a table. The glass cases are the point.

    • Seen in Time Out. Founded in 1829 and still working behind its original glass cases and painted panels

  • Pastelaria Aloma · Bakery

    My pastel de nata, away from the queue in Belem. Ask for cinnamon.

    • Seen in Time Out. Opened in 1943, and its pasteis de nata were judged Portugal's best in a blind tasting in 2012 and 2013

Rome

  • Roscioli Salumeria con Cucina · Restaurant

    Buy cheese at the counter, then sit down. It is a shop first, which is why the plates are so good.

    • Seen in Michelin Guide. Part of a Roman food shop known for cured hams, cheeses and Roman pasta, on via dei Giubbonari

Tokyo

  • Ameya-Yokochō · Market

    Start a Tokyo trip here. Walk it once without buying, then walk it again and buy.

    • Seen in GO TOKYO. A street of roughly five hundred shops and stalls running between Ueno and Okachimachi stations

  • Isegen · Restaurant

    Cold months only, for the anko hotpot. The building is almost a hundred years old and behaves like it.

    • Seen in Time Out. A Kanda restaurant in a 1930 building that specialises in anko hotpot from September to April

  • Taimeiken · Restaurant

    Order the omurice. This is the comfort food a city invents for itself.

    • Seen in Time Out. A Nihonbashi yoshoku restaurant established in 1931, known for its tampopo omurice

Plans you can copy

Four days eating my way across Bangkok

4 nights · November to February · Medium pace · Mid range

One market a day, one counter a night, and temples in between when the heat allows it.

  1. Day 1

    Land, then eat in the old town

    • Raan Jay Fai · Evening · Meal

      Crab omelette, one beer, no rush. Expect a queue and treat it as part of the plan.

      • Seen in Michelin Guide. One MICHELIN Star in the 2026 MICHELIN Guide Thailand
      • Seen in Time Out. Profiled as the shophouse kitchen of Supinya Junsuta, who has cooked behind the wok there for about forty years

    • Khao San Road · Night · Walk

      Walk it once to shake off the flight. You do not have to stay.

  2. Day 2

    Market morning, counter night

    • Chatuchak Market · Morning · Market

      Go at opening. Buy fruit you cannot name and eat it while you walk.

    • Museum of Siam · Afternoon · Museum

      Cool, quiet and short. The right size for the hottest hours.

    • Le Du · Evening · Meal

      The tasting menu, with the wine pairing if you are not walking far after.

      • Seen in Michelin Guide. One MICHELIN Star in the 2026 MICHELIN Guide Thailand
      • Seen in Time Out. Chef Thitid Tassanakajohn cooks Thai produce in a modern style after training in New York kitchens

  3. Day 3

    River temples and a late table

    • Wat Phra Chettuphon Wimon Mangkhalaram Ratchaworamahawihan · Morning · Sight

      Go at opening, before the tour groups and the heat arrive together.

    • Wat Arun · Midday · Sight

      Cross by the river ferry. The crossing is the best part.

    • Wang lang market · Afternoon · Market

      A working market next to the hospital pier. Eat something small and keep moving.

    • Eat Me Restaurant · Evening · Meal

      A long dinner after a long day, and it does not close early.

      • Seen in Time Out. A Silom restaurant open more than twenty five years, serving contemporary European cooking late into the night

  4. Day 4

    Chinatown, then one proper dinner

    • Jim Thompson House · Morning · Museum

      Old teak houses and a garden. Take the guided route, it is quick.

    • Talat Kao · Afternoon · Market

      The old Chinatown market lanes. Narrow, loud, and the best browsing in the city.

    • Le Normandie · Evening · Meal

      The formal last night. Dress properly and sit by the river.

      • Seen in Michelin Guide. Anne-Sophie Pic at Le Normandie was promoted to Two MICHELIN Stars in the 2026 Thailand guide
  • Seen in Michelin Guide. The 2026 MICHELIN Guide Thailand lists thirty three restaurants with One Star in Bangkok and the surrounding provinces

Three days of my own city

3 nights · March to June · Medium pace · Mid range

What I would do with someone who has three nights and wants to eat rather than sightsee.

  1. Day 1

    Castle hill and a tasca dinner

    • São Jorge Castle · Afternoon · Sight

      Walk up rather than taking the tram. The streets on the way are the reason to go.

    • Restaurante Zé Dos Cornos · Evening · Meal

      Share the table, order the ribs, drink the house red.

      • Seen in Time Out. A Mouraria tasca with communal tables and wooden benches, grilling fish and meat

  2. Day 2

    Market lunch, counter dinner

    • Café Nicola · Morning · Coffee

      A bica standing at the counter on Rossio. Two minutes, then go.

      • Seen in Time Out. On Rossio since 1929, on the site of an eighteenth century cafe where the poet Bocage held court

    • Time Out Market Lisboa · Midday · Market

      Split up, buy from three counters, meet back at the table.

      • Seen in Time Out. A nineteenth century market hall that now gathers city kitchens under one roof

    • National Ceramic Tile Museum · Afternoon · Museum

      The tile museum, and the quietest hour of the trip.

    • Kanazawa · Evening · Meal

      Eight seats and one menu. Book weeks out and arrive on time.

      • Seen in Michelin Guide. One MICHELIN Star in the 2026 MICHELIN Guide Portugal
      • Seen in Time Out. An eight seat Japanese counter in Belem opened at the end of 2015

  3. Day 3

    Belem and a last long dinner

    • Jerónimos Monastery · Morning · Sight

      Buy the ticket online the night before and go at opening.

    • Tower of Belém · Midday · Sight

      Ten minutes of looking is enough. The walk along the water is the good part.

    • Pastelaria Aloma · Afternoon · Coffee

      Custard tart and a coffee, away from the Belem queue.

      • Seen in Time Out. Opened in 1943, and its pasteis de nata were judged Portugal's best in a blind tasting in 2012 and 2013

    • Clube de Fado · Evening · Meal

      Eat first, then listen. Do not talk during the singing.

      • Seen in Time Out. A fado house run by the guitarist Mario Pacheco, with stone arches dividing the room
  • Seen in Michelin Guide. The 2026 MICHELIN Guide Portugal lists nine two star and forty four one star restaurants in the country

Four days in old Tokyo, one shop at a time

4 nights · October to November · Medium pace · Mid range

Asakusa and Ueno, where the shops are older than the guidebooks and each one does a single thing.

  1. Day 1

    Ueno arrival

    • Ameya-Yokochō · Morning · Market

      Five hundred stalls under the railway. Walk the length of it before you buy anything.

      • Seen in GO TOKYO. A street of roughly five hundred shops and stalls running between Ueno and Okachimachi stations

    • Taimeiken · Evening · Meal

      Omurice, and the coleslaw if it is still on the counter.

      • Seen in Time Out. A Nihonbashi yoshoku restaurant established in 1931, known for its tampopo omurice

  2. Day 2

    Asakusa, slowly

    • Sensō-ji · Morning · Sight

      Arrive before eight and it is a different place entirely.

    • Nakamise Shopping Street · Midday · Walk

      The approach street. Buy one senbei and eat it standing.

    • Sansada · Afternoon · Meal

      Tempura by the gate, in a shop that has been frying since 1837.

      • Seen in Wanderlog. An Edo style tempura restaurant founded in 1837, beside the Kaminarimon gate in Asakusa

    • Kamiya Bar · Evening · Meal

      Denki Bran and something fried. Pay at the door, then sit.

      • Seen in Time Out. An Asakusa bar dating to the late 1800s, described as Tokyo's oldest western style bar

  3. Day 3

    Knives, noodles, a tall view

    • Kappabashi Kitchenware Town · Morning · Walk

      The restaurant supply street. I buy one knife a decade and I have never regretted it.

    • Namiki Yabusoba · Midday · Meal

      Cold soba, and drink the cooking water at the end.

      • Seen in Wanderlog. A soba shop near Kaminarimon that has served buckwheat noodles for over a century

    • Tokyo Skytree · Afternoon · Sight

      Book the timed slot. Otherwise skip it without guilt.

  4. Day 4

    One last bowl

    • Tokyo Ramen Street · Midday · Meal

      Eight shops in a station basement. Pick the shortest queue and trust it.

      • Seen in Time Out. Eight ramen shops gathered on the basement level of Tokyo Station Ichibangai

    • Kaminarimon · Afternoon · Sight

      Two minutes, one photograph, then walk on.

    • Isegen · Evening · Meal

      Anko hotpot if you are here between September and April. Book ahead.

      • Seen in Time Out. A Kanda restaurant in a 1930 building that specialises in anko hotpot from September to April
  • Seen in GO TOKYO. The official Tokyo travel guide describes Ameyoko as a street of about five hundred shops between Ueno and Okachimachi

Rafi is a TravelDay buddy: drawn, fictional, and not an account in the network. Research edition 2026-09-17.