Café de São Bento

Café de São Bento has decided to come down the hill and set up in the heart of downtown Lisbon. The new venue has opened its doors on Rua das Portas de Santo Antão, in a building steeped in history that once housed the legendary Bristol Club, one of the hubs of the city’s bohemian and cultural life at the beginning of the 20th century. Today, the same building is also home to the new Hotel 1904 Benfica, restoring prominence to this historic downtown address.

Founded in 1982, Café de São Bento has built, over more than four decades, a very distinctive reputation in Lisbon: a restaurant where tradition remains intact and where the star of the show is still the famous steak served with its secret sauce, inspired by the historic Bife à Marrare recipe. The new address preserves this identity, keeping the menu and the ritual that have made the house a classic of Lisbon’s restaurant scene.

The setting reflects the history of the place. After passing through the velvet curtain and climbing the wooden staircase, the room reveals an atmosphere that evokes the bohemian elegance of the 1920s: crimson velvets, mirrored ceilings, dark woods and two monumental sculptures by Leopoldo de Almeida that bear witness to the building’s modernist past.

With around 70 seats, this is the group’s largest room to date and it appears in an area where theatres, music and cultural life continue to set the pace of the city. At the table, the house classics remain, now accompanied by new starters and dishes that strengthen the connection to Portuguese cuisine.

As a partner of LookIN Club, Café de São Bento Baixa brings to the project a classic of Lisbon’s gastronomy: a restaurant where tradition, history and hospitality continue to define the dining experience.