Restaurante Tavares

A restaurant more than 200 years old, Tavares is the oldest restaurant in Portugal still operating. As such, one of the first to serve à la carte, and to introduce foreign dishes to the portuguese customers, a situatuon that nowadays seems to have been reversed. It opened in 1784 in Chiado, as a simple tavern. In the XIXth century, major renovations made it what it is today, a restaurant of refinement, with polished ornamentation, chandeliers, gold leaf painting and big mirrors. Each of the tables of the 'Salão Nobre' aludes to a famous national and international customers, and these can be reserved beforehand. Another salon is a hommage to Eça de Queirós, the portuguese writer, who was part of the 'Vencidos da Vida' (beaten by life), an intellectuals group that met here in the late XIXth century. Nowadays an internationally recognized restaurant, and mostly of elitist demand, it is nevertheless an option for a special occasion!