A Focus on Fine Food and the Premium Wine Headlines of the Portuguese Regions

Fine dining is no longer dictated by stuffy dining rooms with white linens and stiff-backed waitstaff. Instead, many top chefs around the world are now defining fine dining as an experience of high-quality food in a comfortable ambiance that enhances the gastronomic adventure. Furthermore, they also offer exclusivity, in which each dish can be made with careful detail and a personal touch. 

This way the meal will become all about memories that are filled with luxury, in which you will remember that attention to every single detail that was given in order to elevate this unique experience to the max. Of course, fine dining is only completed when each marvelous meal is paired with excellent wine, like for example, a selection of vintage reds, whites, or champagne (a sommelier will be there to help you through the process of pairing each wine in perfect harmony with each dish)

So, enjoy reading this selection of fine food and premium wine from each Portuguese region.

Douro Valley Region

Six Senses Restaurant

The Vale d’Abraão Restaurant focuses on a mix of traditional Portuguese dishes, where local and fresh products prevail and are from the organic garden of this outstanding hotel. Furthermore, the local wines are at the center of the culinary experience in which a team of sommeliers advises the perfect wine that will be a better fit with the incredible dish that you have chosen. Also, from May to October, you must experience the barbecue restaurant, which is simply brilliant, as well, experience and enjoy the Chef's table, where you will stay at a table at the corner of the kitchen and have very close contact with the Chef and its team.

Porto Region

Casa de Chá da Boa Nova

This unique restaurant is declared as a National Monument and located on the rocks above the beach right by the water’s edge and was one of the first projects built by the awarded architect Alvaro Siza. Casa de Chá da Boa Nova is located in Leça da Palmeira and its owner is the amazing Chef Rui Paula's that has already in his list of awards two Michelin stars, in which the first was awarded in 2016. The fresh fish and seafood are the stars of their outstanding menus and when is definitely stands out is brilliancy. This is perfect for wine, food, and architecture lovers.

Pedro Lemos

Pedro Lemos restaurant is in one of the most beautiful and emblematic historical areas of the city after all is located in a stunning house classified as architectural heritage, It immediately became one of the most renowned restaurants in Porto and was the first with a star in the Michelin Guide. The atmosphere of this space is elegant and modern, ideal for a quiet and refined meal. Moreover the Chef Pedro Lemos and his team honor with high standards nature, its products, and seasonality, always with the goal to bring to the table and each visitor honesty and the best flavors. Besides the menu, his wine list is also the reflection of a careful selection, in order to complement in the best way this unique gastronomic experience.

Antiqvvm

This awarded Michelin star restaurant (keeping for 2021) led by Vítor Matos reflects the path that the chef has taken in recent years. The presented food is increasingly refined, elegant, simple, and full of flavor. Moreover, the chef went back to the past to pick up dishes and renewing them, for example, he is now on a journey through fresh and "exotic" flavors. It is present that the idea of traveling is almost always there in the chef's dishes. Plus, this restaurant is the ideal place for the tasting of a vast wine list completed, in which if you requested the house wines to be paired with the excellent cuisine of the Author, your experience will be even more complete and incredible.

Lisbon Region

Belcanto

Belcanto is an incredible Portuguese restaurant, that is awarded two Michelin stars (keeping both in 2021) definitely puts Portuguese gastronomy on the map. The space is very popular due to its impressive, welcoming, discreet, and attentive service, and last but definitely not the least by an extraordinary wine cellar that presents some of the best Portuguese wines, as well as major international references. The wine lovers must know that the wine list of the restaurant is extensive and diversified since it includes over 350 references. About eighty percent of the wines are Portuguese, but you will also find a wide selection of wines from all over the world, that consist of different styles, from contrasting regions, large and small producers. A plus? Younger and older wines, including some relics and rarities. Moreover, the dishes are extremely unique and creative, in which one you will revisit and savor the Portuguese gastronomy, filled with flavors and textures. 

Alma

In an 18th-century building that was once a warehouse for the famous Bertrand bookshop, the oldest in the world, ALMA is a restaurant with a rigorous but relaxed service, its interiors have striking contrasts and provide the backdrop for amazing and seasonal à la carte options and interesting set menus that encompass traditional, international, and Mediterranean dishes. The two tasting menus - Costa a Costa, exclusively inspired by the sea, and Alma, with the chef's five dishes of choice - and an à la carte menu, the choices are various and incredible. They will definitely surprise the client, even the most demanding ones. The restaurant has been awarded several times in the most prestigious gastronomic guides and has been awarded two Michelin stars. The first one was announced on the 22nd November in 2018 and the second one in 2019, keeping both in 2021.

100 Maneiras

Awarded with its first Michelin star in 2020, the 100 Maneiras restaurant is divided into 3 rooms (Greenhouse, Dining Table, and Back Room), where it combines nature and cosmopolitanism, ruin, and luxury. Furthermore, the restaurant is the result of many life stories, this renewed restaurant offers a menu that works as a letter of intent. First, we know where everything (him, the chef) was born, then we see how he grew up, where he traveled, and what marked him. Talking about the wine there is a "bible" with more than 400 references, but for those who don't want to spend half of the dinner reading, there is an alternative letter - with "only" 100 wines, grouped in an original way. There you will find, for example, the suggestions of white, red, and fortified wines, made by the producer Dirk Niepoort and classified as Not Dying Before Drinking. There are other options also interesting: the section This Country Is Also For Old proposes a series of old wines, both red and white, domestic and foreign; there are also the "Off the Road", more "unusual", the "volcanic" or the "blood of my blood", with Chef's own signature. 

Eleven

Eleven offers creative gourmet cuisine and besides this, the space is a reference for culture and art, since its architecture is modern, minimalist, and organic. Awarded with one Michelin star that has been kept for 2021, Joachim Koerper honors the fantastic Portuguese products based on Mediterranean cuisine, so expect the menu to change with the seasons. Also, the dinner experience turns out to be quite different and unique since it was created for those who want to enjoy a slow-paced and exquisite gourmet dinner.

Feitoria

The Feitoria restaurant was awarded with a Michelin star in 2014 (keeping it for 2021). The cuisine of Feitoria revolves around with enormous respect for the Producers and the Matter, also the fantastic team beats in the best of the Portuguese cuisine with a creative twist that results in sophistication and a perfect combination of flavors. This voyage starts off with a sumptuous atmosphere of sophistication and is complemented by a generous selection of fine wines since Feitoria Restaurant has also a Wine Bar offering with several hundreds of wine references ranging from the best local hand-picked casts to those of carefully selected international wineries. Moreover, the full selection consists of creative dishes and tasting menus of Chef João Rodrigues, like Land, Tradition, and Journey. The Chef invites the client to feel the smell of the wet earth and the sea breeze, to have contact with the product and with the people that treat them, in conclusion, to enjoy this gastronomic journey will all of your senses.

Alentejo Region

L'and Vineyards

L’and Vineyards restaurant was idealized by the Brazilian architect Marcio Kogan and has a very unique and contemporary design. The first thing that you will notice when entering the restaurant is the lighting concept, this is as much an art installation piece as it is a functional lighting solution. Plus, you will also notice, that the back wall of the restaurants is a showcase of L'and wines that are served in the restaurant, and that also translates into a decorative wall. The dishes represent the Alentejo region in all its fulness, but also with a touch of influences from the countries where the Chef has passed. Besides this, every dish will be carefully paired with the L'And wines and other premium wines from an extensive wine list, since its sommelier enjoys surprise in each and every proposal of the menu, making this gastronomic experience to be as completed as possible.

Algarve Region

Ocean

The fantastic Ocean restaurant offers a culinary of technical precision, with a keen sense for creativity, and passion for using only locally-sourced and fresh products. Furthermore, it is always innovating and persistently improving, and that why further accolades include earning two stars in the Red Guide of Portugal and being named Portugal’s Chef of the Year in 2009, 2012, and 2019 and let's not forget the two Michelin stars that are kept for 2021. In addition, Portugal is a country that offers a cornucopia of fresh ingredients and flavors, and Chef Hans Neuner is always celebrating the Portuguese gastronomy, taking inspiration from exploring the country’s regions, visiting with locals, and perfecting flavors through gourmet-focused research. Besides, the restaurant has also an incredible wine list in which its sommelier will help you to pair the perfect wine with the chosen dish, delivering even more of a unique experience.

Vila Joya

This outstanding restaurant awarded two Michelin stars (keeping both for 2021). you will find dishes in which its approach is based on classic European cooking techniques to Algarvian and Portuguese ingredients, putting a creative spin on every recipe, in which each dish is a piece of art. Vila Joya was awarded its first Michelin star in 1995 and it's second in 1999. Embark in this culinary experience filled with cooking techniques in the highest order.

By booking your 2020 or 2021 tour in Portugal with us you will have flexibility in the future, plus our Covid-19 Health and Safety Guidelines. Through these unique times, we are available to plan, reschedule, and move your trip around your needs, as always. If your new dates may no longer work with your initial travel plan, a dedicated consultant will be available to tailor and reschedule your tour in Portugal according to your needs and preferences, and to assure you that you will have the best and most memorable experiences.