"Sunday Opening" Restaurants in Portugal
Chef Ricardo Costa conjures up elegant compositions from the country's best ingredients. Using Portuguese flavours and preparation methods, he creates a contemporary national cuisine in a class of its own. The Yeatman wine list is equally impressive.
"The only regularity at the Vila Joya is the standard of the cuisine," is Dieter Koschina's credo. The creative Austrian, who has been in the Algarve since 1991, has firmly established the villa's international reputation as a gastronomic jewel. The view over the Atlantic is: "breathtaking".
Alma - soul - is the name of the restaurant run by award-winning chef Henrique Sá Pessoa. Here you can enjoy elegant, contemporary, soulful Portuguese cuisine in a particularly beautiful dining room in a robust 18th century villa.
The Antiquum is not only one of the best restaurants in the city, it is also one of the most idyllic, thanks to its location in the "Museu Romantico" in a park. The creative cuisine consists mainly of local produce, spiced up with international delicacies.
The Vila Foz hotel restaurant is located in an old villa in the upscale Foz district. Elegant, modern cuisine with a focus on fish and seafood is served in the stylish gas room, accompanied by a selection of wines from all of Portugal's top names.
Chef Pedro Lemos has opened his restaurant in a former home in the elegant coastal district of Foz do Douro. It offers several tasting menus focusing on the best produce that the Portuguese sea and the mainland have to offer.
Ljubomir Stanisic breaks boundaries and traditions here. The Bosnian chef came to Portugal as a teenager and began cooking to overcome his war trauma. His creativity gives rise to wild, modern and, above all, incredibly tasty dishes.
There is only room for 12 guests in the former wine cellar of the "Torel Palace" hotel. You eat with a view of the kitchen, where the team around the two chefs Vítor Matos and Francisco Quintas - the two monkeys - prepare delicacies from the best ingredients in the country.
Cura offers light contemporary cuisine made from regional ingredients. Chef Pedro Pena blends local traditions with international flavours and techniques. There are three menus, the "Meia Cura", the "Origens" and the vegetarian "Raízes".
Traditional Portuguese cuisine with high standards has been served here since 1989. No wonder this pretty restaurant is always well frequented by tourists and local regulars. Hospitality and food are served here with great generosity.
Only the freshest seafood and the best fish are cooked in the time-honoured Marisqueira Antiga, mostly from local waters. There is also a fantastic selection of wines from all corners of the country.
The cultures of São Paulo, Porto and Tokyo mingle here. This creates a cosmopolitan, lively atmosphere every evening. There is modern Japanese cuisine with international influences, mainly made from local fish and seafood.
Those who climb up to Suba are rewarded with wonderful views over the city of seven hills. But that's not all: the modern Portuguese delicacies that come out of the kitchen and the attentive service can easily keep up with the panorama.
The trip to Vila do Conde is particularly worthwhile if you book a table at Rio by Paulo André, especially on the terrace by the river. Here you can enjoy creative and contemporary fresh cuisine with the best ingredients the country has to offer.
There is only room for ten people in this small restaurant. For the lucky few, there is an evening surprise menu made from the best of the Portuguese fields, forests and seas and a pleasant, intimate atmosphere.
Vinum is the restaurant of the famous Graham's winery in Vila Nova de Gaia. Here you can enjoy the wonderful view of Porto and dishes that combine Portuguese cuisine with elements of Basque and Brazilian cuisine - deliciously cosmopolitan!
The Gambrinus has been in the centre of Lisbon since 1936. Little has changed since it was founded. In this timeless classic, timeless classics are served by a horde of attentive, old-school waiters.
The Gharb is a small boutique hotel with a wine bistro. The owner, a Brazilian with Lebanese roots, cooks with the flavours of his childhood, serving delicious dishes from the Middle East and North Africa with a fine selection of natural wines.
Although Os Lusíadas is located in the seafood hotspot of Matosinhos, it stands out for the exceptional quality of its food. Fresh fish and seafood from the day's catch are prepared in a simple way, accompanied by a good selection of wines.
The Stramuntana celebrates the culture and cuisine of the Trás-os-Montes region on the border with Spain. It serves down-to-earth, traditional food, prepared with a lot of passion by the owners Lídia Brás and Fernando Araújo, who come from the region themselves.