100 Maneiras mixology wins double award

João Sancheira, bar manager of 100 Maneiras group, was named Best Bartender of 2022 and Bistro 100 Maneiras won Best Bar in a Restaurant, in Lisbon Bar Show awards, May 17, 2023.

Not one, but two awards: it was with full hands and a wide smile that João Sancheira, the bar manager of 100 Maneiras group, said goodbye to the last edition of Lisbon Bar Show. The 35-year-old bartender was named Best Bartender 2022 – an award that recognizes the talent and work Sancheira has put behind the counters he leads. Proof of this is also the award for Best Bar in a Restaurant, awarded to Bistro 100 Maneiras‘ bar (which had already won the same title in 2019, with Jorge Camilo at the helm).

Lisbon Bar Show awards are among the most important in the cocktail industry in Portugal – and one of the biggest Bar and Hospitality events in the Iberian Peninsula. Assigned by a jury of the field, the awards were handed out at the end of yet another edition of this event which, as usual, brought some of the most famous names in the business to Lisbon for lectures, exchanges of experiences and demonstrations. João Sancheira was, in fact, one of the speakers of this edition, speaking, on the 17th, under the theme “Natural vs Artificial”.

Delivered on May 17 of this year, the awards refer to 2022, the year of redefinition of Bistro 100 Maneiras and its different areas of action, bar included. Closed at the end of 2021 for extensive refurbishment works, it took five months for the doors to reopen in March 2022. In addition to the transformations in the space, intervened from top to bottom – literally – the menus were also redesigned.

For the new signature of the bar, João Sancheira, born in Caldas da Rainha and head of the group’s bars since 2021 (the year he also won the Bartender of the Year award at the renowned World Class competition), created “Tails From Wonderland”: a menu of 12 cocktails that reflect the essence of Bistro through natural ingredients, with the imagery of Alice in Wonderland serving as the motto for the journey and Tiago Maya’s illustrations guiding every step of the way. 

The result are distinguished inhabitants such as Queen of Hearts (Hendrick’s Orbium, Noilly Prat, Martini Ambrato, Cider Vinegar, Raspberry, Watermelon), Clockwork Orange (Belvedere, Schweppes Pepper, Mandarine, Basil), Down the Rabbit Hole (Hendrick’s, Coconut, Peashoots, Peppermint) or Drunken Pear (Johnnie Walker Black Label, Rocha Pear, Lemon Verbena, Schweppes Soda).

Taking advantage of the concentration of talent in Lisbon at the Lisbon Bar Show, Sancheira was also responsible for two international “guest shifts”, with bartenders invited to share the best of their work at the bars of Bistro 100 Maneiras and Carnal Gastrobar. On May 15th, it was up to the Italian mixologists Alex Frezza (from L’Antiquario, #46 The World’s 50 Best Bars) and Matteo Di Ienno (from Locale, #39 The World’s 50 Best Bar), to take charge of the Bistro bar. Carnal, the Mexican gastrobar of the “sons of 100”, received Jon Anders Fjeldsrud and Mica Rousseau, on the 16th of May, for a guest shift 100% dedicated to mezcal-based cocktails.

With the holding of these events, participation in various actions and winning awards, 100 Maneiras group continues to prove its commitment to mixology as an essential part of its nature. A bet that is also made on younger talents: Bruno Fernandes, bartender at Bistro 100 Maneiras, is one of the 6 professionals qualified for the final of the Bartender of the Year competition (organized by The Bottle Affair), which takes place on the 12th of November, in Oeiras. Fresh blood, boiling hard. 100 Maneiras, of course.