Pensão Amor occupies the upper floors of a 19th-century building on Rua do Alecrim, in the heart of what was, until the 1970s, Lisbon's red-light district. The rooms were originally a pensão - a small hotel - that operated as a brothel for sailors arriving at the nearby port. The current operation kept the layout, the original tile work, the worn wooden floors, and most of the wallpaper, and built a multi-room bar-cabaret around all of it. The result is the most theatrical drinking room in the city and one of the few in Cais do Sodré that is worth the visit despite the area's reputation for bachelorette-party traffic.
The bar's Madeira programme is the reason to come. Twelve producers, vintages going back to the 1970s, and a small staff that genuinely knows the differences between the four grape varieties. After Madeira, the cocktail list is competent rather than ambitious - the bar's identity is in the room, not the drink-making - but the wine-by-the-glass list is one of the best short lists in Lisbon, with strong Dão and Alentejo selections.
Visit before 10pm if you want the room calm enough to talk. After 11 the bachelorette crowd arrives from the Pink Street, the music gets louder, and the visit changes character. Both versions of the bar are worth experiencing once; the early version is the one most travelling adults would pick.