5 years of 100

5 years of 100

It was on February 28, 2019. And if we could swear that it was just yesterday that we saw these doors open for the first time, it also seems like we’ve been here for a lifetime. Because we have lived so much within these walls. We have experienced hope and discouragement in the 4 years (!) of the construction works of a restaurant that seemed to be ready, we have lived a pandemic and in the same year we have experienced the achievement of our first Michelin star (the same one that was awarded to us again, yesterday, at the first Michelin Guide Portugal Gala, and which continues to feel as special as the first time). We have shared with so many customers some of the most cherished moments of their lives: birthdays, anniversaries, marriage proposals, dinners with distant friends. A handful of years, achievements, learning and memories.

We carry on. Focusing on the future, respecting the past. Building bridges without burning what is behind. With the certainty that this is the path, as long as it is truly ours, equal only to ourselves. The rest is Story (and Short Story, and Echoes of 100, the three tasting menus served at our tables).

So let’s celebrate, on the 28th and every day, from 7pm. We will be here, waiting for you. Now like 5 years ago. With the same desire to welcome you, the same desire to surprise, the same desire to shake up the world within these walls. Most of the times, not in the most consensual way. Always with a heart full.

100’s Anatomy in 4 moments

The restaurant took around 4 years to be built – with an architectural project by the duo HAJE, interior design by Nini Andrade Silva, uniforms by the late Mário Matos Ribeiro and graphic identity developed by Partners – but it had been dreamed for much longer than that. And if it was the difficulties that characterized this time, overcoming and consolidation were also some of the words that shaped it. Like when the new stove, designed by chef Ljubomir in Italy, weighing around a ton and which had to be transported by crane through this narrow street of Bairro Alto, didn’t fit through the gate of the old Adega do Teixeira, forcing us to destroy one of the few walls already finished. It was stubborn, but it got in. And it soon became the realization of an old dream.

With the birth of the restaurant we also wanted to make a declaration of principles. Choosing sustainability and respect for the world first. In the materials we use, in the choices we make, in what we serve. Handpicking the products, the producers (such as Horta da Garça, Delta or Chá Camélia). Including a vegetarian menu of 17 moments – Echoes of 100 – which proves the versatility of the plant world. Or the use of less consensual proteins (like the insects in XO sauce) that aims to deconstruct paradigms and prejudices. For health, for flavor, for happiness – ours, our people’s, the world’s.

For each tasting menu, there is a pairing of drinks – wines or non-alcoholic options, although wines are in fact one of 100 Maneiras’ strengths, with more than 500 references available. A work by Nuno Faria and the resident sommeliers who, in addition to the hundreds of wines on the main menu, created an alternative list with 100 wines grouped in other ways, such as the “To Die For!” section, a selection signed by the great (producer and friend) Dirk Niepoort. Outside the world of wine, we also created 1 cocktail bar where we abolished the shaker for a stirred experience… Signature creations, bottled to ensure quality and consistency without losing the 100 Maneiras essence.

Downstairs are the bathrooms and a washbasin made of solid stone that weighs hundreds of kilos. This unique piece remained at the entrance of the restaurant for months until we managed to gather more than a dozen people to transport it to the lower floor. It is there, among moss, cobblestones, iron and tree branches, that we enter a time tunnel. There are voices that speak in our ears. They talk to us about politics, but also about equality, traditions and history. Those who speak to us are Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, but also Josip Broz Tito, the former president of the former Yugoslavia, the astronauts of the Apollo 11 Mission, Fernando Pessoa, José Saramago, the Lisbon “cauteleiro” (the old sellers of lottery tickets), the bells of the Muslim mosques in Sarajevo… Culture dresses in countless ways, in different places. And there are (much) more than 100 ways to be happy. We had a dream…!