Belcanto

Belcanto is chef José Avillez's restaurant on Rua Serpa Pinto in Chiado, Lisbon, next to the São Carlos national opera house.

It first opened in 1958 as a men's club, with two rooms that recalled an English club, and members of Lisbon society dined there for decades. Avillez took it over and reopened it, fully rebuilt, in January 2012. A Michelin star came soon after, and a second followed, making Belcanto the first restaurant in Lisbon with two stars. It later became the first Portuguese restaurant on The World's 50 Best Restaurants list.

Avillez studied business communication and wrote his thesis on the image of Portuguese food. He started out at Fortaleza do Guincho in Cascais, took private lessons from the cookery writer Maria de Lourdes Modesto, and trained in France with Alain Ducasse and Éric Fréchon. A spell at El Bulli with Ferran Adrià changed his way of working, and as executive chef of Tavares in Lisbon he won his first star. He now runs a group of restaurants that includes Cantinho do Avillez and Bairro do Avillez.

Wood panels line the dining room below vaulted ceilings and spare modern chandeliers. Next to a tasting menu there is an à la carte, where Portuguese staples such as suckling pig and grilled hake come back in new forms. The best known starter, The Garden of the Goose that Laid the Golden Eggs, is based on a fairy tale: a slow-cooked egg with gold leaf, crunchy bread and a mushroom broth. Avillez guided Anthony Bourdain around Lisbon when No Reservations filmed there.