The best restaurants in Chiado

To lead a restaurant where the menu changes daily you need creativity. André Magalhães and his team have it and they also know a lot about forgotten or hard-to-get Portuguese products. Thus a part of the menu usually confuses the patrons – fear not, the staff is on hand to tell you what is what. By day this is an old-fashioned Lisbon tavern with traditional recipes; by night, it is a chef's laboratory, mixing influences from all over the world.

Time Out tips:

– It's always crowded and no reservations are accepted, so go early.

– Beyond dining, there is also a micromarket with quality wares.

– Taste their lunch specialities: garnished “iscas” and “meia desfeita” cod.

Three years after closing down his Alma restaurant, in Santos, Henrique Sá Pessoa reopened it nearby, in the premium Chiado district, with a more refined cuisine. It was a risk worth taking – he earned the first Michelin star in his career. The restaurant is a lot more modern than the previous one, a trendy spot for fine dining, mixing Portuguese classic dishes and some influences from the chef's travels and readings – Sá Pessoa has always had an interest in Asian cuisine.

Time Out tips:

– Two tasting menus (€70 and €90) plus à la carte dishes.

– The roast carrot appetizer blew our critic away – try it.

– The stove was designed by the chef; it is a unique, 750kg piece.

After a couple of years missing, Henrique Mouro is back to the Chiado with a restaurant where every dish has something in common: rice. You can't escape it, neither will you be avoiding the Portuguese cuisine that has always been the chef's speciality, although he does venture into some fusion recipes. Just order a risotto with sautéed greens, beans and fried octopus fillets, or a “cabidela” blood rice stuffed with “farinheira” sausage and you'll understand what we mean.

Time Out tips:

– Caroline type rice, whole rice, savage rice, basmati rice... All varieties have joined this party.

– For dessert, obviously, you can have a good old rice pudding.

– A kitchen with no gas in Lisbon? Such a thing exists. Everything is cooked in electrical induction stoves.

As if being a major landowner in the Chiado wasn't enough, José Avillez opened a whole block in 2016. An entire building, huge, with a cloister full of light, where he presents various concepts. On your way in you will find the Mercearia (“grocery store”), with books, aprons and olive oil for sale next to Portugal's finest cheese an sausage; the same hall has the Taberna, with its many snacks, some of them original; farther along is the Páteo, for seafood and specially treated meats.

Time Out tips:

– The delicatessen is supplied by Manteigaria Silva.

– Try: the cod “alfacinha”, the octopus with kimchi and the croaker fish with “migas”.

– You can make reservations for Páteo (you won't get a table otherwise) but not for Taberna.

He was the first Portuguese chef to stamp two Michelin stars on his resume, the first to earn one for the Greater Lisbon area. At Belcanto, the second of his six Lisbon restaurants, his creativity is everywhere: both in fully reinvented traditional dishes, such as his “cozido” with a strong-flavoured broth, and in bold experiments such as his famous garden of the goose that laid the golden egg - in which a golden, edible layer covers a soft-boiled egg. And we've yet to mention the appetizers, delicious as always.

Time Out tips:

– More than a meal, an experience; don't rush it.

– This is no place to be a spendthrift – including when it comes to wines.

– The tasting menus cost €125 and €145, but you can also order à la carte.

No pretension, no fear and, most aptly when talking about Ljubomir Stanisic, no limits. Unlike the mother ship 100 Maneiras and its more serious demeanour, the Bistro is a stage where the chef challenges the barriers of all the places that inspire him – the Balkans, France and, of course, Portugal. He comes up with dishes such as a spare rib tartar, mushroom risotto with wild mushrooms, and an excellent Balkanic cheese and bio chard burek. It is also one of the finest places in the city to be seen (it is always full of cool people).

Time Out tips:

– Barman Jorge Camilo is an artist; don't neglect his menu.

– There is a private, Hendrick's sponsored, private room, where menus cost €180.

– It's not a bistrot, it's a bistro – Serbian for “clean”.

At Time Out we usually talk of Buenos Aires as a lifebuoy restaurant: a place to go when you want good service, a cool location, a fine meal, an affordable bill or a sip of wine with a view to the castle. The Argentinian (rib-eye) steaks are the house's calling card but there is more to discover on the menu: fresh pasta, asparagus salad, endives with pears or the incomparable flower salad. Only one small but important detail is missing: no ATM cards accepted.

Time Out tips:

– You get two restaurants for the price of one – there's another Buenos Aires right next door.

– If you didn't make a reservation, forget about it: it's almost impossible to get a table.

– Desserts, oh... Desserts. Try that Argentinian postre.

Along with the Pizzaria Lisboa, this is the city's most low-key José Avillez restaurant. That could be due to its location, inside the São Carlos National Theater (and outside too – they have nice outdoors tables); or maybe it is due to its simple, relaxed cuisine. Despite that, don't ignore the tender dough pastries, the cod nuggets, the “caldo verde” soup and the risottos, all of them by Avillez. This is a place for good, solid Portuguese food, with crisp flavours and a tasteful presentation. Tourists love it and so should Lisboners.

Time Out tips:

– The chef produces his own “nata” custard pie. Does it taste good? Yes it does. 

– Like in a good eatery, there is a little bit of everything: vegetable cream soup, “bitoque” steak, cod à la Brás.

– Come rain or shine, the outdoors tables are covered during wintertime.

Upon opening his “Cantinho” in 2011, which he described as a restaurant for his friends, José Avillez took a step back from haute cuisine. Here he proved that a chef can also shine by preparing simple fare such as fried “peixinhos da horta” vegetables, “barrosã” beef burgers or Portobello mushroom risotto. Naturally he also ventured into more original dishes, such as Algarve prawns with Thai flavours or scallops with Aljezur sweet potatoes. That mix conquered Lisbon, paving the way for what came next: five successful restaurants in the Chiado.

Time Out tips:

– Never forget this is the birthplace of the Halzenut³.

– The old Professor-style eggs, a Belcanto staple, are now only served at Cantinho.

– The MX-LX steak sandwich is one of Lisbon's most interesting DIY dishes.

The small eatery at the Rua das Flores in endangered ever since its building was approved for building a hotel. But there is no closure date for now, so enjoy their croquettes (Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays), their cod cakes (Tuesdays and Thursdays), their “alheira” sausage with fries and egg, their “iscas”, their homemade soups, their almond pie... well, the menu isn't very long but it's always hard to pick just one thing. If all else fails, just go “eeny, meenie...”

Time Out tips:

– Only lunches are served, and by 11am they are usually fully booked.

– The cod cakes won a blind taste test by Time Out Critics.

– There is no sign at the door. Memorize the street number: 76

You have until October 31 to eat at Flores do Bairro under its current configuration. The next day, the Bairro Alto Hotel undergoes a renovation and it is yet to be seen if the restaurant remains the same – in architectural terms anyway. Until then, you have 10 months left to enjoy chef Bruno Rocha's dishes, whose style is worlds away from traditional hotel gastronomy. There are several snacks for sharing – try the duck croquettes and the cockle rissoles – and other Portuguese recipes with an auteur's touch.

Time Out tips:

– A nice, open and well-lit venue.

– The partridge and beans risotto is an absolute must.

– Before your meal, go up to the terrace and enjoy a drink.

Kaffeehaus is a cafe/restaurant hybrid that unusually manages to be good at both. What this means is that you can expect quality both in sandwiches with unpronounceable ingredients and Austrian sausages; both in apfelstrudel and breaded chicken cutlets with potato salad. There are plenty of good things we could list about this Austrian restaurant in the Chiado. But we won't do it. We would prefer you to pause reading this guide (you're about halfway through it) and get a seat at a table in Kaffeehaus, with a hot plate of food in front of you.

Time Out tips:

– Don't be squeamish: venture into Austrian traditional dishes.

– Some of the sausages sold in Hansi are also here.

– The outdoors tables draw a big crowd at lunchtime on sunny days – go early.

Xavier and Olivier are, respectively, owner and chef. These are the people you should thank for making such a beautiful restaurant in Lisbon – the first French bistro in Lisbon. The music, the staff, the food – everything comes as close to the original as possible. Some dishes are excellent: the eggs cocotte (one of the best ways to eat eggs), the tartar de boeuf and, if you just want to keep it simple, the classic croque madame.

Time Out tips:

– The soup a l'oignon is made from red rather than ordinary onions.

– The chef himself makes the sausage in an artisanal fashion.

– Before anything else, allow the staff to pour you a glass of champagne.

No tables in Lisbon are as romantic as the ones near the jellyfish aquarium at Largo – it's a great setting for a marriage proposal. Indeed, there is beauty in the entire restaurant, whose interior was designed by Miguel Câncio Martins. The kitchen, once led by Miguel Castro e Silva, also had Louis Anjos at the reigns and is now under Paulo Silva. Its specialities are steak tartar, sautéed squid with beurre blanc shrimp and duck magret with green asparagus and truffle risotto. Finish the meal with the zero degrees chocolate mousse and hazelnut praline.

Time Out tips:

– On weekends during winter months, “cozido” is served buffet-style (€18).

– Don't be afraid to go for the appetizers: corn, rye and seed bread are all great.

– Valet parking is available at dinnertime.

Long before seafood invaded Lisbon's menus in modern arrangements, Sea Me already focused on fish and shellfish. All thanks to an original concept, mixing fish market, shellfish restaurant and sushi bar. The food includes Portuguese snacks with authorial touches, Portuguese-Japanese inventions – such as the unbeatable sardine niguiri -, sushi with some fusion mixed in, shellfish and fresh fish. The latter is served grilled and with no tricks – with such good raw materials from fish markets in Sesimbra, Peniche and the Azores, none are needed.

Time Out tips:

– The restaurant has its own fish farms in the Ria Formosa.

– Maria Bolacha, a modern version of a traditional cake made with Marie biscuits, is the best dessert on the menu.

– Judge for yourself how fresh the wares look and pick what you want from the restaurant's glass display.