London’s Charlotte Street is not lacking in good restaurants, having been a dining hot spot for the past few decades, but with Nuno Mendes pitching up there for his latest restaurant project the good has just got better.
Lisboeta is the Portuguese chef’s homage to his beloved hometown. Set across three floors of a stunning townhouse the restaurant, opened in partnership with MJMK Restaurants, serves excellent small plate ‘petiscos’ as well as large sharing dishes for the table inspired by the popular ‘tasca’ restaurants of Lisbon.
On the ground floor there’s a counter and open kitchen where you can see Mendes and his team grill large scarlet prawns before they are laced with garlic and piri-piri as well as asparagus with a wild garlic sauce, while upstairs the convivial dining room is a brighter space bathed in natural light from the building’s large windows that open out onto Charlotte Street.
There’s more to come, too. Mendes is about to open a more ambitious basement kitchen and wine cellar in the basement called The Adega. This much more intimate space for around 10 guests will see Mendes prepare an ambitious menu in a similar fashion to that at The Loft Project, when he invited people into his east London home to break bread.
