Last Monday the Portuguese food blog Mesa Marcada held its annual award ceremony for the Top 10 Portuguese chefs and restaurants of 2015. Sponsored by Graham’s, the event was held at Honorato Hamburguers Artesanais in Lisbon, and awards were presented in several categories, including Best Restaurant, Best Chef, Mesa Diaria or “daily table” (for a reasonable priced/”day to day” restaurant) and Rising Chef (for a chef who placed significantly higher in the competition this year than the previous edition of the awards).
For the second year running it was José Avillez, and his two Michelin Star restaurant, Belcanto, that were awarded both Best Chef and Best Restaurant. Belcanto, which first opened in 1958 in Chiado, Lisbon (near the house where one of Portugal’s greatest writers and poets, Fernando Pessoa, was born), was refurbished by José Avillez in the Summer of 2011 and has since become a reference in Portuguese cuisine.
Second and third place for Best Chef were awarded to Leonel Perreira, of São Gabriel, and Hans Neuner, of Ocean, (which also placed second in the Best Restaurant category) respectively.
Over the course of what was a great evening, Graham’s filmed several interviews with some of the award winning chefs, and over the coming weeks we will publish them here. In order to sate your appetite until then however, below is a teaser of what is to come. You can also find the full list of winners and more information on the Mesa Marcada blog (in Portuguese).
Graham's Port 