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In March, Don Alfonso 1890 won a Michelin star – but that happened in Macau, not Cascais, where the Italian restaurant at Legacy Hotel has closed to make way for the new Ardea.
The décor has not been touched: the damask and brick-toned wallpaper, with herons and flowers, is still there, as are the huge fringed lamps and the carpet and ceiling with the same colourful pattern. A few pastas and pizzas have also survived on the menu, such as the spaghetti Don Alfonso (€20), with fresh tomato sauce, parmesan, basil and lemon, and the classic Margherita (€16), Diavola (€20) and Prosciutto e Rúcula (€24). Everything else, since the start of 2026, is unrecognisable.
“It is a difficult mission, turning a 100% Italian restaurant into a tasca that draws on grandmotherly flavours. But it is part of a wider trend – many chefs are moving away from fine dining and going back to their roots,” says José Luiz Diniz, who leads the kitchen and, before arriving here, worked at other hotels in Cascais, including the Sheraton and the Miragem.
The reaction from customers – mostly foreigners, between hotel guests and expats – has been very positive. “We started slowly, with a Mediterranean concept that brought together Portugal, Spain and Greece. With this new [summer] menu, we went even further. More towards the tasca.”
The example the chef is proudest of is the fish fillets “with rice, Portuguese-style” – hake fillets with loose tomato rice (€25). “Foreigners find it funny. They are not used to eating fried fish. There is a visual and emotional shock.”
At the press lunch presenting Ardea’s new menu, the famous fillets did not make an appearance and things went well beyond traditional Portuguese cooking, with tomato gazpacho (€8) served Spanish-style and very Italian shrimp and mascarpone ravioli (€24). But the tuna steak à Bulhão Pato (€28) – with clams sautéed in garlic, olive oil, lemon and coriander – and the Portuguese-style beef sirloin (€28) – in a beer sauce, with cured ham and a fried egg, served with truffled chips – made the direction the chef wants to take very clear. There are other traditional dishes on the menu too, such as Cascais-style fish soup (€9), bacalhau à D. Carlos (€24), with crispy shoestring potatoes, sautéed onion, egg and cured ham, and black pork cheeks (€23), with sweet potato purée.
Desserts take us back around the world, with options such as Basque cheesecake (€10) and raspberry and basil panna cotta (€9). What Time Out tried was the dark chocolate tartlet (€9.50) and the tiramisu (€10), both with a national twist: the first comes with orange zest from the Algarve, while the second is made with Carcavelos wine.
As the menu, service and atmosphere become more relaxed and down-to-earth, a few surprises are being prepared for the warmer months on Ardea’s terrace, which has its own entrance separate from the hotel. Expect screenings of the football World Cup matches and Sunday Afternoon Chill, which invites families to relax and play board games after the beach, until 8pm.
Av. 25 de Abril, 528, Cascais. Open daily 12.30pm-10pm.
See also: Farol Hotel – we checked out the new ELEMENT6 restaurant and O’Mast bar
Also: Hotels in Cascais you need to know about
More news: keep up with the latest news from Cascais