Porto in 2025 offers something rare. A city where fine dining and honest local cooking stand side by side, where you can enjoy a Michelin-starred tasting menu one night and a tiny family-run seafood restaurant the next. Both feel essential, both feel true to the city.

For travellers who know Lisbon well or feel the Algarve has become too busy, Porto is the alternative. Portugal’s second city is confident, creative and grounded in its traditions. Prices remain more accessible than in many Western European cities, and its food scene grows stronger every year.

Below is The Halfway Living’s guide to the tables that matter most in Porto right now.

MICHELIN STARS: WHERE PORTO SHOWS ITS STRENGTH

Antiqvvm

Two Michelin Stars**

Set in a quiet park near the Museu Romântico, Antiqvvm is one of Portugal’s most important dining rooms. In 2025, the restaurant holds two Michelin stars, making it one of the country’s top kitchens and the leading fine-dining address in Porto.

Chef Vítor Matos builds menus around seasonal ingredients and precise technique. Dishes highlight the main component with clarity: blue lobster paired with flavours of Moqueca or silken tofu presented with chilli, citrus and mango. The tasting menus change every four to six months, giving regular guests a reason to return.

The setting elevates everything. Soft views over the Douro. Elegant dining rooms blending classic and contemporary touches. Service that moves quietly and confidently.

Antiqvvm is essential because of its consistency. Two stars kept through discipline, technique and a dining room that matches the ambition of the kitchen.

For whom: Clients seeking true haute dining

Experience: Two tasting menus with optional wine pairings

Reservation: Required well in advance

Blind

One Michelin Star

Located inside Torel Palace Porto, Blind brings a theatrical approach to fine dining. The restaurant holds one Michelin star in the 2025 guide. The menu draws loose inspiration from José Saramago’s novel Blindness.

The kitchen operates under Chef Vítor Matos in collaboration with Chef Rita Magro, named Young Chef 2024 by the MICHELIN Guide. Blind offers a single surprise tasting menu, Blind Emotions, in ten or twelve courses. Some elements are served blindfolded. Some involve scent or sound. A Polaroid photo marks the moment.

For whom: Travellers who enjoy storytelling and immersive dining

Experience: A modern, sensory tasting menu

Le Monument

One Michelin Star

Inside the Le Monumental Palace hotel, Le Monument brings French technique together with Portuguese traditions. The restaurant holds one Michelin star and is led by chef Julien Montbabut, who once earned a star in Paris before turning his focus to Portugal.

Each dish explores a different region of the country: oysters from Aveiro, sardine-based flavours inspired by São João in Porto, and a salad that honours Matosinhos, the former fishing town north of the city. It is a journey across Portugal seen through a French lens.

Two tasting menus anchor the experience. Grande Viagem runs ten courses. Passeio offers six. Wine pairings are available in classic or premium versions.

The dining room is refined and intimate, with marble details, soft lighting and only forty seats. Service is professional and warm, with the chef often greeting guests personally.

For whom: Celebratory meals, refined evenings, lovers of French technique

Experience: French-Portuguese tasting menus

Setting: Elegant hotel dining room, open for dinner only

TRADITIONAL PORTO: WHERE LOCALS ACTUALLY EAT

Taberna dos Mercadores

Worth the Wait

On R. dos Mercadores, close to the Ribeira waterfront, this tiny family-run restaurant has only sixteen seats. It is simple, traditional and beloved. Lines form before opening. Calls at 11am may secure a table, otherwise expect to wait.

The menu is straightforward but deeply satisfying. Octopus rice. Salt-crusted sea bream carved at the table. Seafood rice with clams, mussels and prawns. Cod prepared in several classic ways. Everything depends on quality ingredients and experienced cooking.

Starters sit around six to seven euros. Main dishes range from sixteen to twenty five euros. Service is warm and humorous, even on busy nights.

For whom: Travellers who want true local flavour

Experience: Seafood and classic Portuguese dishes

Adega São Nicolau

From the same family behind Taberna dos Mercadores, Adega São Nicolau is a long-established reference for traditional Portuguese cooking. It sits near the river and offers generous, comforting dishes.

Expect prawn açorda, pork rojões, meat stews and, by special request, cod-tongue rice or roast kid goat. These dishes come from recipes the family has served for decades, using ingredients sourced from the owner’s hometown of Resende.

Portions are large, quality is reliable and prices remain fair.

For whom: Lunch or dinner with a neighbourhood feel

Experience: Traditional Northern Portuguese comfort food

Setting: Casual, familiar, always busy with locals

MAKING IT HAPPEN

Porto’s dining scene is easy to enjoy but not always easy to coordinate. Some Michelin restaurants book out months ahead, local favourites take walk-ins only and popular seafood places can involve long queues. Planning is essential if you want to experience both sides of the city without stress.

At The Halfway Living, we specialise in high-touch travel planning. We secure reservations, manage timings, arrange transfers and adjust plans in real time. Our focus is simple: you enjoy Porto’s best tables while we handle the logistics.

THE INVITATION

What sets Porto apart is honesty. Restaurants here do not chase trends. They chase quality. Antiqvvm with its two Michelin stars and calm Douro views. Blind with its sensory theatre. Le Monument with its French-Portuguese finesse. Taberna dos Mercadores with sixteen seats and a reputation built entirely on word of mouth. Adega São Nicolau serving generations of locals.

Each represents a different chapter of Porto’s story. Together, they create a city worth crossing borders for.

For custom dining plans, bookings or concierge support:

info@thehalfwayliving.com

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