Koen and I are married 10 years today! Where better to celebrate than the 75th Best Restaurant in the World, Belcanto by Chef José Avillez? We really had such a wonderful evening discovering Portuguese cuisine. The food and service were outstanding. We also loved how the food was served in riddles and poems!

To quote Belcanto’s site:

Distinguished with two Michelin stars, Belcanto opened in 1958, in Chiado. Its privileged location in Lisbon’s historical centre, its discrete service and cuisine quickly won over the capital’s elites. José Avillez’s Belcanto opened in the beginning of 2012, totally refurbished. In that same year, it was awarded a Michelin star, and, in 2014, it received a second one, making it the first restaurant in Lisbon to have this honour. In 2015, Belcanto was elected one of the best 100 restaurants in the world by the prestigious “The World’s 50 Best Restaurants List”. At Belcanto, José Avillez invites us on an incomparable gastronomic and sensory journey. Here, he offers a revisited Portuguese cuisine to an exclusive set of ten tables in a sophisticated atmosphere that makes us travel from the old romantic Chiado to the future.

Because we were celebrating our 10 Year Wedding Anniversary, we decided to fully indulge and ordered the Evolution Menu.

To evolve, transform, and keep pushing forward.

The spirit of overcoming that has always defined the Portuguese people is present on this menu. Because we are never contented with what exists, because we like to risk and reinvent, with knowledge and enthusiasm. We took another look at some of our most emblematic dishes and decided to reinvent them, take a step further, explore the unknown starting-off from what we know. We have introduced innovation into tradition: new flavours, textures, ideas and sensations.