Torel Avantgarde Porto

When the owners of the Torel hotel brand added the word avant-garde to the name of their first outpost in Porto, it wasn’t just some promise of being cutting-edge. Rather, the whole hotel pays homage to the 1940s avant-garde movement, when art went from being a complement to being the focus.

Each of the 47 rooms is individually decorated to honor a luminary of avant-garde thinking (not necessarily all from that decade itself) in art, design, literature, and science. The characters being celebrated include Portuguese heroes like Fernando Pessoa and Columbano Bordalo Pinheiro, and international ones such as Janis Joplin, Mozart, Picasso, Coco Chanel and Leonardo da Vinci (pictured at top).

Designer Isabel Sá Nogueira (who worked with Nano Design) has said that her aim was to challenge guests’ senses. She definitely succeeded in the Flower Room, a sunny all-day lounge between the lobby and the restaurant. The walls and ceiling are completely covered with silk roses and wisteria—a slightly disorienting delight.

As for the restaurant, named Digby after the 17th-century English “gourmet philosopher” who is credited with inventing the modern wine bottle, it’s a fairly straightforward affair. Chef Hugo Portela cooks an elevated Portuguese gastronomy that’s focused on ingredients of national origin.