Arkhe Restaurant - Haute Vegetarian Cuisine in Lisbon

Many people give up meat after learning the realities of animal consumption. Not so many chefs. But one who did is João Ricardo Alves. With his haute-veg restaurant Arkhe, he’s changing the perception of vegetarian food in Portugal.

The name is the ancient Greek word for “the beginning” or “the origin.” Alves chose it because, when he came to plant-based cuisine after 10 years in high-end kitchens around the world, it felt like coming back to the basics.

His cooking combines, passion, technique, creativity, and a strong environmental conscience. His last stop in that traditional world was a haute-cuisine restaurant in the Loire Valley, which specialized in the game meats. After a year of cleaning and boning animals, he began questioning the ethics and morals of it.

That work had given him rigor and knowledge, but he saw that he could maintain that without meat. He took a job in England at a vegetarian restaurant and then worked at the only European veggie restaurants in the Michelin.

After six years of that, and a year’s sabbatical to explore the cuisines and kitchens of Asia, he became head chef of Fivelements Hotel in Bali, a pioneer of vegetarian and vegan haute cuisine.

All of which is to say, that when he landed in Lisbon in search of family ties, he had what it takes to open a plant-based restaurant that puts a far bigger emphasis on pleasure than on responsibility. When Arkhe opened, the city’s omnivores were as excited as its vegans.

The menu is brief and changes regularly, depending which organic ingredients are in season. It might include starters like fennel salad with fermented cashew cheese, olives, orange, and black sesame, and mains like kimchi tortellini with carrot and miso cream and Parmesan foam.

The dining room may not be the sexiest in town. But it’s a big step up from the austerity or sanctimoniousness of some of the city’s other vegan restaurants, with plants in the corners and ivy draped from the ceiling, handsome wood tables and nubby stone walls. And it tends to fill up with people out to have a good time, not just make a good decision. Here you can do both.