Leading gastronomy blog Mesa Marcada highlights Portugal’s best of the year

Leading gastronomy blog Mesa Marcada reveals Best Portugal’s Gastronomy selection of the year

Annual awards celebrate Portugal’s top chefs, restaurants, sommeliers, bars and producers

Mesa Marcada, Portugal’s leading gastronomy blog held its annual prize-giving ceremony this February. The awards celebrate Portugal’s top chefs, restaurants, bars, sommeliers and producers of the previous year in various categories.

The ceremony welcomed 500 guests from all over the country at the Estoril Congress Centre, in Cascais, confirming its status as what has been, for 16 years now, one of the most anticipated awards ceremonies in national gastronomy.

Mesa Marcada, the go-to online source for contemporary Portuguese gastronomy, gave the top Best Restaurant and Chef of the Year awards to João Rodrigues and his restaurant Canalha, in Lisbon’s Junqueira neighbourhood. The ex-Feitoria chef opened the tavern-style restaurant in late 2023 to offer quality Portuguese ingredients in a laidback atmosphere and at accessible prices.

Chef João Rodrigues receiving his prize from Miguel Pires, creator of the Mesa Marcada blog

The Algarve’s two-Michelin-starred Ocean firmly maintained second place, and its chef, Hans Neuner, also maintained his place on the Best Chef’s list in fourth place.

The Algarve also saw two other restaurants make to the top 20: Vista, in Praia da Rocha, in 12th place and Vila Joya, in 20th.

According to the organisers, this year had its particularity, as the top prize went “not to a fine dining establishment but rather a more accessible space, which was even nominated for the Mesa Diária award (Daily Table) – a category it won last year”. This recent trend started in 2023 with Prado – which this year reached 3rd place – which became the first “non-Michelin” restaurant to win 1st place in the restaurants’ category, an unprecedented feat in the many years of history of Mesa Marcada’s “Favourites” awards.

The jury’s selections focuses on highlighting cuisine with a distinct personality (“with varying degrees of intervention in the transformation of the product”) combined with an artisanal touch and a commitment to excellence, as well as prioritizing precision over technical perfection, and the experience, empathy, ambiance, service, and the wine selection.

The expanded panel, which convened a record 305 members this year, upheld its usual composition, albeit refreshed, including chefs and other professionals associated with the restaurant and hotel industries, as well as recognised journalists, critics, communicators, and gastronomists in the field.