515 Best Restaurants in Portugal

Regularly ranked among the world’s best restaurants and holding two Michelin stars since 2014, Belcanto, the flagship of celebrity chef José Avillez, helped propel modern Portuguese cuisine onto the global stage. The Golden Egg—a slow-cooked yolk wrapped in edible gold leaf and served in mushroom consommé—enjoys star status among the inventive dishes on the ever-evolving tasting menus. The dining room’s high windows and vaulted ceilings set a refined tone, matched by the attentive staff. Vegetarians are better served at Encanto, Avillez’s nearby plant-based restaurant, which earned a Michelin star within its first year and a Green Star in 2025.

Local foodies flocking to this tiny restaurant for freshly prepared ramen, wonton, and a mapo tofu with a real chili kick. Service is speedy and friendly, and the dishes are beautifully presented. Save room for the matcha cheesecake for dessert.

With tables and chairs set out on a narrow jetty jutting out into the waters of the Tagus, Ponto Final makes a visually dramatic spot to enjoy tasty fish and seafood. It's located on the waterfront a short walk from the ferry terminal, and tables are in high demand. Book well in advance, or just show up early for lunch or dinner and sip a glass of something chilled as you wait. In case no tables become available, neighboring bar-restaurant Atira-te ao Rio is a pleasant alternative. 

The Yeatman’s two-Michelin-starred restaurant offers exceptional dinner-only seasonal tasting menus, showcasing the remarkable skills of Chef Ricardo Costa. The experience begins with inventive drinks and amuse-bouches served in a relaxed lounge before guests move to the formal dining room. Dining here requires advance reservations and deep pockets, but you don’t need to be a hotel guest to enjoy this fine-dining experience.

Run by a father-and-daughter team, this snack bar near the top of one of the city's main shopping streets has just two things on the menu: the simple prego (a steak sandwich) and the belly-busting francesinha (a sandwich featuring cheese, cured ham, sausage, and steak, all drenched in a spicy beer-based sauce). Many locals swear they are the best in town.

Decorated Portuguese chef Leonel Pereira (who previously earned a Michelin star at restaurant São Gabriel in Almancil) now helms this bright and breezy restaurant nearby the Doca de Faro. Since opening in 2020 it's received a Bib Gourmand, and its menu celebrates traditional and seasonal Portuguese fare, serving favorites like bacalhau à brás (salt cod with potato and egg) alongside inventive dishes like lobster risotto with plankton soufflé. A sommelier is on-hand to pair courses with Portuguese and international wines.

Of the several restaurants specializing in suckling pig, this is the most popular. The size of the parking lot is a dead giveaway that this is no intimate bistro, and the spitted pigs pop out of the huge ovens at an amazing rate (especially in summer). In spite of the volume, quality is maintained.

The extraordinary fusion Portuguese dishes served here are the concoctions of two-Michelin-star chef Dieter Koschina. A stone's throw from the ocean and surrounded by greenery, the dishes are inspired by these very surrounds. Choose the Signature Menu, for a four-course tasting experience. Though reservations are required, call in the morning for last-minute openings.

In an elegant dining room overlooking Praia da Rocha, this restaurant is known for its beautifully presented dishes crafted by a chef who meticulously seeks out only the best local ingredients. Chef João Oliveira worked at some of Portugal's top award-winning restaurants, and here he puts his own stamp on refined Algarvian cuisine. The interior is elegant and sophisticated, with enormous glass windows that allow sunlight to stream in.

A native of Bosnia, Ljubomir Stanisic made his name in Portugal as a young chef full of flair, fronting TV shows, writing books, and, above all, experimenting with food (and wine). When he reopened this industrial-chic foodie haven in Bairro Alto, it made the 50 Best Discovery list within months, and in 2024 it secured a Michelin star. Here, the chef's personal and professional journey from one end of Europe to the other (literally, as it included a spell in the Azores) are reflected in tasting menus (from €140, drink pairing from €70), one of them vegetarian, that alternately coddle and amaze diners, showcasing both tradition and innovation. Prepare to get your hands dirty, tearing and dunking Bosnian bread from the chef's mother in potent sauces, or picking up a salad served in an unusual compact form. Ingredients from Portugal include both fine seafood and insect larvae, and full use is made of fermentation for added flavor. Even drink pairings bend the rules: white wine can follow red, and fortified cider may feature. Stanisic also runs Bistro 100 Maneiras and is an active partner in the newer "Mexican gastrobar" Carnal (€13, no lunch)—both in the Chiado neighborhood.

As the name suggests, the two chefs at the helm of this Michelin-starred restaurant take a playful approach to the fine dining experience. Gastronomic star Vítor Matos and talented resident chef Guilherme Spalk head a team that delivers a tasting menu that is as theatrical as it is technical. Set in the former wine cellar of Torel Palace Lisbon, the intimate space encourages interaction between diners and chefs—expect bold flavors, storytelling, and the occasional trick up the kitchen’s sleeve.

With its quirky interior illuminated by dozens of pendant lamps, this lively tapas bar—with inventive cuisine and fine wines—is popular with locals for a big night out. There's a strong focus on Portuguese wines, but the menu ranges further afield, with camembert, shrimp tempura, and tuna tataki.

With a cavernous interior, lovely blue and yellow azulejo tiles, and formal staff, this upscale tasca has been a local favorite since 1939. It serves vast portions of typical Portuguese dishes such as cabrito assado (roast kid) and bacalhau d'ouro (salted cod with turnips, potato, and cornbread). Most main dishes easily serve two, but leave room for something from the ever-changing but dependably good dessert menu.

While the restaurants along or near Rua 31 de Janeiro may have river views, they don't necessarily serve the best food. Standing apart from them, this ham-and-garlic-bedecked place—off a square at the end of the main street—has no views, but the regional fare served on its wooden tables make it worth a trip. Regular dishes include cozido à portuguesa (a sausage, bean, and vegetable stew), cabrito assado (roasted kid), and tripas (tripe and beans), most available as a full dose (serving) that's enough for two people or a meia (half) dose. If you're planning on dinner, come early because the small space fills up fast.

This rustic restaurant with red-and-white-check tablecloths and cork carvings adorning the walls serves authentic Alentejan dishes. The atmosphere is rustic, with long wooden tables for boisterous families and intimate little two-seaters tucked behind huge clay wine jugs. The house wine—literally cheaper than the bottled water—is a wonderful value and complement to any meal.

The best seats in this intimate restaurant are at the counter in front of the open kitchen, where you can watch the talented young chefs work their magic with local seafood. Though there are a couple of meat items on the menu, fish is the star, with complex yet delicious flavors and beautiful presentations. Both the small plates as well as the more substantial fish and rice dishes are perfect for sharing.

This pastry shop opened in 1957 in the city of Alcobaça, and six decades later it expanded to the capital. You can now try the tarts together with “monastic pastries” that follow age-old recipes by Cistercian monks, all in this small shop on Chiado’s busiest street. Its rise to fame in Lisbon happened in 2014, when it took the top prize for best custard tart in an annual contest. 

Sample the very best ingredients from local producers and farmers all from the humble digs of this locally celebrated food truck—there are goods like honey, mushrooms, pork, chestnuts, and chorizo on the menu. Every so often, the food truck hosts fun events, like touring "mountain picnics" and small parties.

Come to what’s widely regarded as the finest fish and seafood restaurant in town for hearty portions of expertly prepared local delicacies such as cataplana à ancoradouro (seafood stew); skewers of grilled fish and shrimp; and seafood rice with crab claws, shrimp, mussels, and clams. Though the decor inside is simple, the large terrace with wonderful water views is the place to be.

Founded in 1954, this oceanfront restaurant is one of the most traditional in Espinho. There's an enormous variety of fresh seafood ready to be grilled, boiled, or roasted in the oven, as well as bacalhau and various fish stews and rice dishes. Many are large enough to be split between two diners. Customers who want meat can choose between dishes such as roast veal or kid—or there's tripe and bean stew, in case you didn't get enough of that in Porto.

This restaurant's name translates to "There's Fish Here," and indeed it's one of the top places in town to savor the catch of the day, served fried, grilled, or roasted. Dinner attracts a youngish crowd, who enjoy options like cuttlefish with black rice and saffron mayonnaise. For diehard carnivores, there's Brazilian picanha. The dining room is also a classic, set beneath wide arches.

When arkhe opened in 2019, it was one of the first fine-dining vegetarian restaurants in town. With Brazilian and Portuguese roots, Chef João Ricardo Alves has classic Italian and French training, but it was when he lived in Asia that he got a taste for plant-based cuisine. This multicultural background has undoubtedly infiltrated the menu, with dishes featuring the likes of dashi sauce and homemade ravioli. Guests can pick and choose from three to five options or give carte blanche to the chef.

This charming restaurant has an absolutely lovely location on the eastern edge of the dramatic Praia dos Três Irmãos. Specialties here include fresh fish and delicious seafood stews, supported by a selection of fine wines. The crepe desserts are both a specialty here, and an absolute must.

The Michelin-recommended restaurant atop the Bairro Alto Hotel draws a well-dressed crowd for pre-dinner cocktails on its rooftop terrace—arrive early, as it's first come, first served and highly sought after at sunset. Inside, the elegant dining room centers around an open kitchen where you can watch chefs artfully plate seasonal dishes, with fresh seafood often playing a starring role. The sommelier provides excellent pairing advice, frequently highlighting selections from small, independent Portuguese producers. 

Renowned chef José Avillez has created his own foodie "neighborhood" incorporating two restaurants, a pizzeria, and a bar that serves snacks. The airy, more formal Páteo serves classic Portuguese dishes, while the more casual Taberna offers a wide range of fine local cheeses as well as intensely flavored small plates presented with flair. Then there's Pizzaria Lisboa for great thin-crust pies, and Mini Bar, a hidden and dimly lit night spot in an atmospheric former chapel, for fancy drinks and snacks, with live music and DJs Wednesdays through Saturdays.

It’s more than worth a trip 20 km (12 miles) east of Ponta Delgada to dine at this popular open-air seafood restaurant with lovely water views; since the place doesn’t take reservations, bring your swimsuit for a dip in the adjacent pool while you wait. The friendly staff will grill up your choice of the fresh local fish on display---perhaps tuna, stingray, or barracuda---but you can’t go wrong with baked mussels in a buttery garlic sauce or just-caught limpet, plus (a rarity for the islands) a well-stocked salad bar.

Raise a glass to life's simple pleasures as you nibble on freshly caught shellfish at this feet-in-the-sand bar and restaurant. There are grilled slabs of meat and fish on the menu, alongside a lengthy cocktail list.

A café by day and bar by night, Barreirinha is popular with the locals no matter what time of day you visit. This is partly thanks to its menu of easy-to-eat items like burgers, sandwiches, burritos, and salads, and partly due to its location on a hillside with small outside tables on the terrace overlooking the ocean. Huge white parasols shade you from the Madeiran sun while local musicians keep the atmosphere lively.

This cool, colorful restaurant is as cheeky and irreverent as its name suggests. The menu takes Portugal's culinary traditions on fantastic flights of fancy using the freshest of local seafood.

Be sure to make reservations for this always-bustling fish and seafood spot—rightfully thought by many to be the best on the island—with pretty views overlooking the marina in the tiny fishing village of São Mateus. You can’t go wrong with any of the freshly caught fish (the restaurant has its own fishing boat), along with limpets, slipper lobsters, and barnacles, which you coax from their shells with tiny forks.