100 wins Michelin star

Restaurant 100 Maneiras, by chef Ljubomir Stanisic, won its first Michelin star yesterday, December 14 2020. The award arrives before the restaurant’s second anniversary, opened at the end of February 2019, but recognizes the work and a journey of more than a decade.

“We have worked hard together to be the best possible version of who we are, not only this year, which was very atypical, but also all other years. I see this award as a recognition of that: hard work, rigor, but also personality and a path. 100 Maneiras was born in 2004, reborn from the ashes in 2009 and, in 2019, reinvented itself after four years of construction and many setbacks. I believe that this is the plant that we sowed, watered and nurtured with love these years. Without prejudice, without pretensions, without fear of doing differently. Of being different ”, says chef Ljubomir Stanisic.

After being included last year on the 50 Best Discovery list (published by the reputable The World’s 50 Best, one of the most prestigious worldwide awards in the area), the first Michelin star will cement the position of 100 Maneiras on the international scene and help bring more brightness and hope at the end of this atypical year.

2004 – 2020

It was in Cascais, in 2004, that at the age of 26 Ljubomir Stanisic opened the first 100 Maneiras. A restaurant that brought him knowledge, recognition and experience. Closed in 2008, the bankruptcy of the restaurant in Cascais was instrumental in building the new 100 Maneiras philosophy. To learn from the mistake and do it differently. Be different.

In 2009, the first 100 Maneiras in Lisbon brought this difference. Located in Bairro Alto, it was the first space in the capital to serve a tasting menu at a democratic price. From then on, Ljubomir’s cuisine opened up to an ever wider audience, who favors flavor, discovery and experiences, but isn’t interested in pretensions.

It was this combination of factors that, in September 2010, with the society composed by all its three current members (Ljubomir Stanisic, Nelson Santos and Nuno Faria), gave birth to Bistro 100 Maneiras. In a historic space in Chiado, inspired by Art Déco, home to one of the oldest restaurants in the country, Bistro combines art and gastronomy, music and cocktails, the most conservative and the most eccentric, in a true hymn to pleasure – internationally recognized in 2017, with the first place in the world ranking of the Monocle Restaurant Awards.

10 years, many awards and many experiences after the inauguration of the first 100 Maneiras in Lisbon, the new Restaurant 100 Maneiras was born, a natural evolution of the old restaurant located on the same street (meanwhile closed for remodeling works).

It took four years of construction to open the doors of number 39 on Rua do Teixeira. A space that is not “just” a restaurant, but that is a life story: the story of Ljubomir Stanisic and many others, who fit inside these walls covered in stone and velvet, ruin and luxury.

100 is, above all, part of the life story of its owners – Ljubomir, Nelson Santos and Nuno Faria – who, with the courage that only a few have, invested in a business of a considerable scale without a support network, but also of others who thought this life project with them, like Mónica Franco, the chef’s wife, author of his books and creative director of the group. People like Manuel Maldonado, executive chef of the group 100 Maneiras, and Miguel Santos, operations manager.

100 is made of flesh and blood… Of people like Hugo Marques Amaro and João Miguel Esteves, the architects from HAJE who helped the project to be born, designed and adapted it. People like Nini Andrade Silva, the interior designer from Madeira island who took the ideas and the concept to every inch of the decoration, joining the feeling of “Decadentism” to the Fantastic, and put it in a place where the dream becomes matter of the real.

People like Gil Correia, André Sentieiro and other elements of Partners, the creative agency who read thoughts and created the new graphic identity, joining uniqueness and irony, contemporaneity and nature. Or Mário Matos Ribeiro, founder of ModaLisboa and Fashion professor, who created the uniforms in organic linens, at the same time minimal and multicultural, dispensing words to explain them.

With 100, Ljubomir pays a declaration of love for his city, a declaration of peace, the longed awaited burial of arms, a tribute to his roots (it is no coincidence that the door opens to a huge root that “falls” from the ceiling ). In 100, pacification is materialized – the child who was forced to live the war, the young man who became a cook because he had to flee, the Yugoslav who adopted Portugal and became adopted by him, the cook who grew up in the struggle and now expresses himself without fear, in peace, on the plate.

“Welcome to Bosnia!”, we say every night in this 32-seat restaurant in Bairro Alto. Mama Rosa’s bread is accompanied by Yugoslavian specialties, in plates bought in Sarajevo. And it works as a letter of intents. First we know where the chef was born, then we see how he grew up, where he traveled, what marked him. It is a trip through “The Story”, the main tasting menu available, with 17 moments, but there are other tasting menus available: “The Short Story” (a shorter version of the same menu) or “Echoes of 100”, an entirely vegetarian tasting menu (sustainability is one of the pillars of the group’s philosophy, which owns a composting machine that transforms organic waste from the group’s restaurants into fertilizer for agriculture).

For each menu, there’s a drinks pairing – including not just wines, even though the wines are in fact one of the strongest features of this house, with more than 500 references. Created by Nuno Faria, Miguel Santos and our team of sommeliers, the wine list is a reflection of the desire to travel at the table, to discover rarities, to toast to the great pleasures of life, and can be consulted in full or through an alternative menu with a selection of 100 wines grouped in unconventional sections, such as “Timeless”, “Sea of Love” or “To Die for!” – the latter, a choice signed by the great (producer and friend ) Dirk Niepoort.

At every table, in every corner of the restaurant, nothing happens by chance. The exclusive tableware (part of it designed by Ljubomir himself), the crystal glasses, made by hand, the personalized cutlery, the music selected by Nelson Santos, the plants that line the walls of the Glass Room, the light that adapts and evolves according to the moment, and even the sounds in the bathrooms with political speeches, poetry recitation, the bells of the mosques in Sarajevo or even recordings of the Apollo 11 mission.

100 Maneiras is open every day (except on mandatory closing days decreed by the Government and on December 24th and 25th), for dinner, starting at 7pm. Reservations can be made here.