Among the dozens of restaurants opening in 2025, these were the 12 spaces that aroused the interest of readers. One for each month of the new year, the list includes new features in the city, by the beach or in rural areas.
Some cosmopolitan, others rustic or more traditional, have in common the fact that they have captured the interest of readers. From the list of the most read articles of 2025, there are 12 new restaurants, which deserve reservations in the new year. One for each month of 2026, mark your calendar and follow the route of new restaurants, which includes suggestions in the city, by the beach or in rural areas:
With 500 seats and a terrace facing the Tagus, the largest pizzeria in Lisbon has already opened
The new from the Plateform group, is installed in the well-known Espelho d’Água, next to the Tagus. The opening marked the end of almost two years of restoration work on this historic building, designed by architect António Lino for the Portuguese World Exhibition in 1940. It was then adapted for restoration by Cotinelli Telmo, the director of the film “The Song of Lisbon”.
Former FC Porto chef opens restaurant in Melgaço: smoked meats, native meats and naughty rice are the stars of the menu
New brings together products and traditions from Melgaço, rescuing fire-fed confections and endogenous products aligned with contemporary approaches. Álvaro Costa, former chef from the Futebol Clube do Porto team, designs the menu for the space that opened in October.
The third time, it arrives in Lisbon: Trás-os-Montes restaurant born in Ribeira de Pena opens at Gare do Oriente
After Ribeira de Pena and Chaves, the restaurant, born in the Pena Park Hotel, arrived at Gare do Oriente, in Lisbon. Expect creative cuisine from Trás-os-Montes, with surprises such as the “Estendal” with sausages, the “Alheira with oxtail and mushrooms”, but also “duck ham” and “Irasshaimase”.
With the ambition of being one of the best in the world, restaurant JNcQUOI Fish, in Lisbon, already has an opening date
In June 2024, a fire destroyed, even before the inauguration, a large part of the JNcQUOI House, on Avenida da Liberdade. It is in this boutique hotel that opened its doors in October, dedicated to fish and seafood, led by Filipe Carvalho. At the beginning of January, the Table space opens, which includes a counter with 11 seats and aims to be one of the best in the world.
Rural cuisine from Trás-os-Montes gets a new home in Mogadouro
In the village of Azinhoso, in Mogadouro, the focus is on traditional products and recipes from the region, prepared over a fire, in a wood oven or in a pot. The official opening of the restaurant took place on August 29th, in honor of the owner’s grandfather and chefwhich would be 100 years old on this date.
In Aldeia dos Marmelos, a new restaurant recreates the essence of Alentejo with Alqueva on the horizon
In Aldeia dos Marmelos, with just over 100 inhabitants, there is a new restaurant that wants to be an open door to the region’s gastronomy. With Alqueva on the horizon, the memories of the chefborn and raised in Alentejo, among olive groves, warm bread and stories told at the table.
Former hardware house in Tavira is transformed into a restaurant where the flavors of the sea and the mountains come to the fore
Abundant Table
With the opening of the restaurant in Tavira, the chef Algarve João Viegas makes a dream come true. The menu values national and regional recipes with modern technique and careful presentation served on a table with “full plates and glasses” and “insatiable conversations”.
In this new restaurant in Douro there are snacks to eat with a razor and main dishes
Housed in the award-winning Six Senses Douro Valley hotel, in Lamego, the new hotel has a menu full of traditional recipes from the region, made with local products. “Educating, inspiring and protecting what is ours” is the restaurant’s objective.
New restaurant in Proença-a-Nova is inspired by ancient Roman, Napoleonic and Beira recipes
After dedicating himself to recovering recipes from the Roman legacy, especially from Apicius, the chef Maria Caldeira de Sousa recently opened a restaurant focused on the old Beirao recipe. In Proença-a-Nova, it serves history, seasonality and local products.
Irreverent in concept, this new restaurant is a parallel universe in the city of Covilhã
Fetish Cool Kitchen
You can feel the irreverence in the air. Irreverent in decoration, in service, in the kitchen open to the living room like a stage for a great show. Irreverent in concept, in the atmosphere achieved with live music or DJ. The restaurant, in Covilhã, is one of the new features in the Boa Cama Boa Mesa 2025 Guide.
Leitão à Bairrada and “Franguinho vaidoso” are “honest food” in this new restaurant in Setúbal
To serve “honest food”, on a menu “full of traditional flavors, as is done in each person’s home”, it opened in Setúbal on Twelfth Day, after more than 20 years of bringing home the “Bairrada-style roast suckling pig”.
This new restaurant in Lisbon is the starting point for a gastronomic journey through the Discoveries
In Belém, one of the oldest nautical clubs in the world and the journey of Vasco da Gama, the navigator who set sail from there towards the East, inspire the concept of the new . The view of the Tagus is the aperitif.
