Chef Henrique Sá Pessoa made waves in Lisbon foodie circles at the end of 2025 when he announced the closure of Alma, his fine dining restaurant that had held two Michelin stars since 2019. But what got lost in that announcement is that the closure wasn’t an ending. It was a beginning.
The move set the stage for him—and his entire team at Alma—to start a new chapter in a new space, entirely on his own terms. In early 2026, he opened his “most personal creation to date,” a restaurant that’s also called Henrique Sá Pessoa in a beautiful, custom-built space in Lisbon’s upscale Páteo Bagatela corridor. In a rare nod to a stellar chef’s reputation, Michelin awarded the new restaurant two stars straight out of the gate.
The chef contends that a second Michelin star denotes a high caliber of cooking, strong consistency, and also identity. His dishes are unmistakably his, just as the dishes at Portugal’s other two-star restaurants bear the indelible signatures of the chefs who created them. An Henrique Sá Pessoa dish, he says, is one that fully embraces Portuguese tradition and uses humble ingredients rather than “luxury” products like caviar and lobster.
Sure enough, a version of the carrot dish that became one of his signatures at Alma is a highlight of the Clássicos tasting menu, although it has now evolved into a tartlet with buckwheat, goat cheese, and apricot. It comes before the most Portuguese of main dishes: bacalhau (codfish, here with black garlic and cabbage), and Alentejo-style porco presa with red bell pepper and Bulhão Pato sauce with garlic and coriander.
For omnivores, that tasting menu is the way to go, while the Costa a Costa is a tribute to Portuguese seafood. (It’s not strictly pescatarian as written, but the kitchen doesn’t mind tweaking it to remove the small bites of chicken and chorizo.) The standouts on that menu include thin ribbons of squid in an aromatic broth with sun-dried tomato, and turbot paired with eggplant and pica-pau sauce (a sort of gravy with garlic and mustard).
Both menus include about a half-dozen single-bite snacks, two starters, two mains, and two desserts, and can be consumed in a manageable three hours. But for those who prefer something simpler, there’s also a shorter Encontros menu, with just one dish from each category, and a list of à la carte options. Still, most guests choose a full menu as a way to see what one of Lisbon’s most creative chefs is up to—especially now that he has large, open kitchen that’s fully tricked out with the latest from Gaggenau, Leiken, and Atlas.
Many also choose the wine pairing, which includes seven small glasses to go with the procession of dishes. This is overseen by head sommelier Manuel Cambournac, who has worked with Sá Pessoa since 2021. Here, his list of 242 references is 70% Portuguese and organized by soil type, which offers an educational experience as well as a sensory one.
For more information, visit the Henrique Sá Pessoa website.
Henrique Sá Pessoa
Páteo Bagatela
Rua Artilharia 1, nº 51, Loja L
Lisbon
Phone: +351 218 384 605
Email: reservas@henriquesapessoa.com
Hours: Tuesday to Saturday – 12:00 to 15:30 and 18:30 to 24:00
Photos courtesy of Restaurant Henrique Sá Pessoa