The 10 best new restaurants in Porto

We have chef Luís Américo to thank for this culinary journey to the south of Italy. In the first mozzarella bar of the city, the mozzarellas come straight from Caserta, in the region of Campagna. There’s no shortage of options: the fresh one, more traditional, the bocconcini, more textured, and even a smoked one. The idea is for the diner to match the mozzarellas with the Italian vegetables and charcuteries, like Parma ham. There are also pre-composed dishes and combinations, like the octopus and chestnut risotto, or the mushroom and creamy ricotta one.

At Mito, the first restaurant of chef Pedro Braga, who gained experience in the kitchens of Reitora and Tenra, the menu includes sharing options, and is divided in four sections: hot, cold, grilled and sweet. Start with some beef croquetes, made of tender shredded meat, juicy and nicely seasoned, and perfectly combined with the chorizo mayonnaise. The chef bets on aged meat in particular, with a ribeye steak matured for a month. To drink, we recommend the Medronho Sour, and for dessert, the matcha French toast with bacon ice cream and maple syrup.

Creativity brews in the head and hands of chef Nuno Castro and his team, and the proof is in the dishes that form the menu of Esquina do Avesso, in Leça da Palmeira: always flavourful, often flashy. The foie gras and pistachio parfait, the seafood moqueca with razor shells, mussels, clams, prawns and seaweed, and the batatoto de beterraba (beetroot purée), are winning bets. End with the peanut butter cheesecake or the lime, passionfruit and coconut dessert.

This restaurant, born out of the imagination of Carlos Bravo and José Ribeiro, owners of Pasto da Palmeira and LSD, with the advice of chef João Pupo Lameiras, is one of Baixa’s busiest venues these nights. Here, you can try flavours all the way from Peru to Korea. We recommend the Mexican carpaccio, in which the heat of malagueta peppers, the freshness of mint, the finely sliced tender meat, the tortilla chips and well-balanced pico de gallo form an explosion of flavours and textures. Don’t miss the churros with three sauces: dark chocolate and pink peppercorn, matcha cream, and spiced toffee.

Euskalduna Studio, the restaurant of chef Vasco Coelho Santos, who previously worked in the Basque kitchens of Mugaritz (two Michelin stars) and Arzak (three), is a perfect venue. This is largely due to its cosmopolitan decor, careful service and, of course, modern cuisine, with world flavours created mostly from seasonal products. The only degustation menu, prepared in an open kitchen and served at the counter, comprises of ten courses, desserts and a few surprises along the meal.

Portuguese produce is the star of Almeja’s menu, a recently opened “casual fine dining” restaurant, as its owner and chef João Cura defines it. Try the oven-roasted wild mushrooms with parsnips, the fresh fish with sweet potatoes, lard and butter sauce, and the pork cheeks in wine sauce with broccoli and carrots, which João makes according to his grandmother’s recipe. For dessert, have the French toast, which has become a Porto classic, and is served here with caramelised bacon and smoked milk ice cream.

Simply saying that this restaurant is part of entrepreneur Vasco Mourão’s umbrella of businesses gives it a guaranteed stamp of quality in the city. Add 20 years in operation and the chef Camilo Jaña, who came from Chile and fell in love with this regional restaurant’s cuisine on his first ever meal in Porto, and you have Cafeína. The result is gastronomic classics such as beef Wellington or a duo of pork with chestnuts and vegetables, two frequent lunch menu options.

Once upon a time, a fashion journalist and an industrial designer fell in love with Porto on a holiday trip and decided to swap Munich for the most beautiful city in the world. We’re talking about Marcus Zietz, who now handles the Mondo Deli’s kitchen, and Christian Haas, who’s in charge of the top-floor studio and put his heart and soul into the venue’s decoration. Next to Marcus in the kitchen is chef Catarina Garcia, with whom he creates seasonal menus to take advantage of the freshest produce.

In the middle of the Leixões Cruise Terminal, you enter this venue through a ramp that gives access to a check-in counter, and even the menu looks like a passport. No detail was left out in the elaboration of this steak house’s concept. Certainly not the food. Our critic Francisco Beltrão found the Black Angus “historic”, but there are many other grill options, including the T-Bone and the Tomahawk. They come with French fries, roast potatoes, pilau rice, creamed spinach, salad, black beans, coleslaw, polenta fries, grilled portobello mushrooms or onion rings. Tough pick.

This small venue by sushiman Ruy Leão is inspired by Japanese izakayas, bistros where group of friends go to share plates and have a drink after work. In Shiko’s menu, at Batalha, the majority of dishes are meant to be shared: from yakisoba noodles to sushi, through to the pancake-like okonomiyaki, here stuffed with shellfish. Dive head first and without hesitation, dear reader, before your friend eats it all alone.