Red limestone tables, gyotaku fish prints and the scent of garlic filtering through the air set the scene at 30 Charlotte Street, where modern Portuguese restaurant, Luso, has just replaced Nuno Mendes’s Lisboeta.
It’s by MJMK – the same group behind Lisboeta, as well as Casa do Frango, Anglothai and Kol – and tells the story of a whole country’s cooking, from the Algarve in the south to the north’s Minho region.
For co-founder Marco Mendes (no relation to Nuno), it represents both a fresh chapter and a return to his Portuguese roots. “We really wanted to bring a more elevated Portuguese offering to London,” he tells Broadsheet. “Luso is a contemporary take on Portuguese food as it sits right across the country. It’s ingredient-led cooking, really focusing on letting the ingredients shine through.” This might sound simple, but in Mendes’s experience, it’s easier said than done. “It actually takes quite a lot of technical brilliance to deliver that, especially when you’ve got nothing to hide behind.”
The kitchen is overseen by consultant chef Leandro “Leo” Carreira (ex-Mugaritz; The Sea, The Sea) and led by Canadian-born Kimberly Hernandez, whose background spans Dinner by Heston, Mathias Dahlgren in Stockholm and Luca. She describes her ethos as one of simplicity and restraint. “For me, it’s all about purity and flavour and lightness of touch,” she tells Broadsheet. “Cooking simply is the hardest thing to do in a kitchen, because there’s no room to hide. If we’re just going to grill fish, we have to grill that fish perfectly.”
This mindset is reflected across the menu. Petiscos such as Algarvian-style pickled carrots and house-made fish patê open proceedings, followed by brill crudo with apple and red pepper vinaigrette, and a dish of clams gently steamed with garlic, coriander and lemon named ameijoas à bulhao pato.
“We’re very lucky to be getting live clams from Dorset,” says Mendes. “They really reflect what we would be getting in Portugal in terms of the quality, the sweetness.” Hernandez agrees. “They’re the freshest, best clams you’ve ever had.”
Larger plates lean into both simplicity and low-key theatre, including a salt-baked sea bass that’s already proving popular. “It’s wild sea bass from Cornwall – delicious, firm, caught sustainably – and it’s a great interpretation of how you’d eat the dish in Portugal,” says Mendes.
Then there’s leitao: slow-roasted Iberico suckling pig with its signature crispy skin. “For us it’s a real privilege to be able to bring this dish to London,” Mendes says. “It exemplifies that restraint and technical mastery that exists in Portuguese gastronomy, because there’s very few ingredients, so you need to deliver a perfect cook.”
Desserts keep close to Portuguese tradition, too, including toucinho do ceu (an almond tart with cream); chocolate mousse with olive oil and flor de sal; and pineapple pudding that’s baked then chilled. Hernandez has a soft spot for the tart. “It’s such a crossroads flavour.”
The drinks list is just as considered. For Mendes, a highlight is wine from a producer that was founded in 1890, Herdade do Cebolal in Alentejo, in Portugal’s south. “They age the wine in lobster cages at the bottom of the sea in Porto Covo,” he says. “When the wine comes out, it’s got this algae growing on it. It’s not a gimmick, the salinity comes through, and it’s just magnificent wine.”
Despite cooking a menu steeped in Portuguese tradition, Hernandez also looks forward to working dynamically and cooking with the seasons. “Mushroom season is coming, so I am so excited about that,” she tells Broadsheet. “It’s like Christmas when the boxes arrive, you never quite know what you’ll get.”
Mendes says the restaurant already feels rooted in Fitzrovia. “We’re telling a story about Portuguese cuisine more generally from a very humble perspective. It’s a restaurant that could sit comfortably in any major city – but first, it belongs here in London.”
Luso
30 Charlotte Street, W1T 2NG
Hours:
Mon 5.30pm–11pm
Tue to Sat midday–3pm, 5.30pm–11pm
