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“2025 wasn’t an evolution, it was a revolution”, said Gonçalo Castel-Branco this Monday at a lunch for participants in the next edition of Chefs on Fire, scheduled for 19 and 20 September. The figures from the last gastronomic festival – which moved from FIARTIL to Parque Marechal Carmona – are impressive: more than 60 chefs and restaurants, more than 500 people working in a venue four times larger than in previous years, and more than 15,000 visitors.
This year, the aim is to consolidate, but that does not mean Chefs on Fire will stop growing: the founder promised to increase the number of food stalls (which may mean shorter queues), the number of chefs (including more women chefs, who already represent 30% of the total), the international stages (there were three in 2025, rising to five in 2026 – with destinations yet to be announced) and the music, with small “hidden” concerts and a “roving band” moving around the venue.
Don’t change a winning formula. For that reason, in 2026 initiatives such as the Bites (dishes that marked the gastronomic year), the corporate day for companies (now taking place the week before the event, on 11 September), the fine dining lunches and dinners at the Casa-Museu de Santa Maria, the Fire Talks on gastronomy, the Escola de Fogo, the food photography course Photo Academy or the intimate concert Mesa dos Artistas (Artists Table) will remain. Last year, this concert brought together Dino d'Santiago and friends such as Valete, Cláudia Semedo, Rita Vian and Mayra Andrade for a special supper. For the eighth edition of the festival, no artist names have yet been confirmed.
The chefs’ line-up, on the other hand, was announced after a meal of cow’s trotter stew with chickpeas and pork ribs prepared by Filipe Ramalho, from Copo Largo (who will cook on Saturday, 19 September) – and includes veterans, newcomers, returns, rising stars and Michelin-starred chefs.
On the first day of the festival, Zé Paulo Rocha, from O Velho Eurico, João Rodrigues, from Canalha, Elísio Bernardes, from Sea Me, Pedro Pena Bastos, from Broto, and Tiago Bonito, from IN Diferente (one Michelin star), will be joined by the “locals” Gil Fernandes, from Fortaleza do Guincho (one Michelin star), and Miguel Laffan, from Gabbro (with one star at Mapa, at L'And Vineyards).
“It makes perfect sense to return to Chefs on Fire, which I took part in many years ago when I was at Torre de Palma, now that I’m at Gabbro, in Cascais,” Miguel Laffan told Time Out during the Chefs’ Lunch. “I decided to be clever and chose to make a vegetarian dish. It was a challenge, but I’m very excited about what I’ll serve: a wood-fired pizza with kimchi. I’ll be doing the fermentation myself,” he revealed.
Providing desserts on Saturday will be Verónica Dias and Lara Figueiredo, the baker from Brites and the pastry chef from MACAM, respectively, joined by other chefs such as Ana Leão, from Corrupio, and Inês Azevedo, from Lamina, the latter accompanied by Vasco Coelho Santos (one Michelin star at Euskalduna Studio). The Rising Star of the day, a distinction that has given a platform at the festival to those beginning to stand out on the national gastronomic scene, is Lizandra Almeida, from Pils.
On Sunday, the fires change hands and it will be the Michelin-starred Afonso Dantas, from A Cozinha do Paço, Ricardo Costa, from The Yeatman, Diogo Formiga, from Encanto, Vítor Matos, from Antiqvvm, and Tiago Penão, from Kappo, doing the cooking. They will be joined, for example, by Louise Bourrat, from Gancho, João Magalhães, from Bar Alimentar, Michele Marques, from Gadanha Mercearia, and Nelson Soares, from Sult.
Desserts will be signed by Filipe Manhita, from Fortaleza do Guincho, and Nathalie Inês, from Sála, and the selected rising star was the Swede Petter Nyström, from Familjen.
“It’s going to be very fun. I love working with fire, we can play, it’s never the same,” says the chef who swapped Oslo for Lisbon and who, in September, will prepare a vegetarian dish at Chefs on Fire. “Portugal has been our second home for a while, but we’re still a bit of outsiders, so being invited to one of the biggest food events in the country is an honour,” continues Elisabeth, Petter’s wife.
Tickets for Chefs on Fire are already on sale and range from €50 (entry to the venue, with no food included) to €200 (two-day pass with 15 dishes of your choice and 10 drinks). In between are €85 day tickets, with five dishes and two drinks, and €100 day tickets with seven food portions and four drinks. Children aged six to 12 pay €20 per day and have access to the venue and the Kids area, with various activities, as well as mini portions of food and drinks. “This is the most family-friendly festival in the country. Come and bring the kids,” challenges Gonçalo Castel-Branco, who also states that Chefs on Fire is the most sustainable gastronomic festival with the least food waste. In short, without false modesty: “It used to be the best in Portugal. Now it’s the best in the world.”
Chefs on Fire, Parque Marechal Carmona (Cascais). 19–20 Sept. €50–€200