In a city that seems to see a new smash burger joint open every week, and in a neighborhood that’s dominated by natural wines and small plates, it’s refreshing to find a restaurant that’s not yet another copy-paste. In fact, Barbela C.P.M. is one of the most unique openings Lisbon has seen in a while.
It’s a sort of homecoming for Portuguese chef Leandro Carreira, who worked at Mugaritz and Nuno Mendes’s Viajante and made his own name in London with Londrino and The Sea, The Sea, where he was widely lauded for his creativity, precision, and transformative expressions with fish and seafood. He starts with the same base ingredients here—the C.P.M. in the name was inspired by the Companhia de Peixe e Marisco signs he and his team saw while meeting purveyors at the fish market in Peniche—and deploys them in ways that no one else in the city has thought of.
There’s a version of spider crab served in its shell, for instance, but here it’s mixed with toasted rice and broth instead of the usual gooey mayonnaise mess found in traditional restaurants. And the tuna tartare is enlivened with seaweed and presented atop a delightfully fluffy waffle instead of the usual cracker.
But his most special inventions rely on dry-aging—there’s a display in the window, along the restaurant row on Rua Santos-o-Velho—and other methods of maturation. There’s a sashimi tasting with an unusual depth of flavor, and an impossibly tender dry-aged swordfish that rests in a bowl of tomato water.
The dining room is pure industrial chic, with the cold part of the kitchen fully on display. Carreira and his sous-chefs prepare the raw dishes in front of diners seated at a sleek counter.
Down a corridor and behind a velvet curtain, there will soon be Bela, a speakeasy run by Lula Mascella, the founder of the cool bar Picco in São Paulo. As with the main restaurant, there’s an emphasis on precision and flavor, with reinterpretations of classic combinations with a modern vision.
For more information, visit the Barbela C.P.M. Instagram page.
Barbela C.P.M.
Rua Santos-o-Velho 82
Lisbon
Phone: +351 931 966 25
Email: hello@barbelacpm.com
Hours: Wednesday to Saturday – 19:00 to 24:00