It’s always a challenge for a sous-chef to assume the top spot in a fine dining kitchen, especially when the departing chef has a Michelin star and the charisma of Pedro Pena Bastos. But that’s exactly what Rodolfo Lavrador did when he took over the kitchen at Cura at the Four Seasons Hotel Ritz Lisbon at the beginning of 2025. And he is doing it well.
True to the name Cura—short for the Portuguese curadora, or curatorship—Lavrador is continuing the restaurant’s artistic culinary journey, using each dish to assemble sustainably sourced Portuguese ingredients and ideas into creative wholes. There’s complex technique—honed during Lavrador’s years beside Pena Bastos at Cura, as well as his earlier roles in fine dining kitchens in Madrid, London, and New York—but the results are seemingly simple, elemental, and easy to enjoy.
The five- and ten-course menus have a Portuguese soul and a refreshing lightness. The plates change with the seasons, but they tend to mix the simple and the luxe: A recent menu included Azores amberjack with cockles, wasabi, and cucumber; red carabineiro prawns with beet, quinoa, and lemon thyme, and an intriguing pre-dessert of cauliflower with apricot, black tea, and lavender. There are vegetarian options for both menus.
As was the case before Lavrador took over, the Art Deco dining room, with its marble panels and midcentury artworks, remains one of the most handsome in town, and the service is skillful and smooth, with the chefs sometimes leaving the open kitchen to deliver dishes.
For more information, visit CURA webpage.
CURA
Four Seasons Hotel Ritz Lisbon
Rua Rodrigo da Fonseca 88
Lisbon
Phone: +351 213 811 401
Email: cura.lis@fourseasons.com
Dinner: Daily – 19:00 to 21:00
Photos by Hayley Kelsing Photography courtesy of Cura
