Bistro’s Sweet 13

It’s more years than we can count with both hands – but, fortunately, this story has no shortage of people who are always ready to show up and raise their hands. If there’s anything we’ve learned over these 13 years, it’s that Bistro is much more than what is kept within four walls. It’s an attitude, it’s memories, it’s people. It is a shared, lived idea, a Bistro by everyone for everyone – and, at the same time, tailored to each individual. A classic that has stood the test of time. Showing off the age with pride – and celebrating it for 13 days, in the best 100 Maneiras way. With pomp, circumstance, irreverence and love. Food and drinks included.

Thirteen years. It was on September 22, 2010 that Bistro 100 Maneiras opened its doors for the first time. At number 9 of Largo da Trindade, in an Art Deco-inspired building with panels by Paulo Guilherme d’Eça Leal, where Tavares Pobre and Bachus, spaces of reference in the city, had previously operated, art and gastronomy, music and cocktails, memory and contemporaneity came together, a home for the most conservative and the most eccentric. The recipe for Bistro 100 Maneiras by Ljubomir Stanisic was made.

Bistro and not Bistrô – we will never give up on emphasizing. Bistro, which in Serbo-Croatian means “clean and clear” and gives it part of its identity: clean and clear ideas, space, food. Less clear ideas, we admit, after a few cocktails from the bar led by João Sancheira, but it’s a sacrifice we happily make.

With the arrival of the 13th anniversary, it is time to remember. The many events linked to wine, cinema, produce (truffles, vanilla, tuna…), and art, the awards won by the kitchen and the bar (such as #1 worldwide at the Monocle Restaurant Awards in 2017 or the Coaster 2017 for Best Restaurant Bar in Portugal and the same title, in 2019 and again in 2022, at the Lisbon Bar Show Awards), the visits that we will never forget – like that of the great Anthony Bourdain, in 2011. The best moments and those that shook  us but didn’t break us – like when the pandemic forced us to close doors and reinvent a new Bistro – and Bistro’s many lives, over the years, entrusted to the hands of artist-friends who are literally part of these walls, like Mário Belém and Filipe Pinto Soares. And, of course, the family album where we condensed almost everything – recipes, stories, memories, faces, commandments – the book “Bistromania – No Bistro Como em Casa”, published in September 2018 (on Bistro’s 8th anniversary), winner of the Photography Award at the Portugal Cookbook Fair 2019 and awarded in The Autumn Harvest List at the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards 2020.

If remembering is living, let’s live. With our plates and glasses full, obviously. Celebrating 13 years with 13 days of party, from September 22nd to October 4th. Starting by bringing back to Bistro five classic dishes that have since disappeared from the menu. Between starters, mains and desserts, it is up to the public to vote for the ones they want to see back on Chiado’s tables (at https://bistrosweet13.typeform.com/bistro’s) and wait to come and taste the most voted ones. The contestants include names like Pita bread with shrimps, spinach, mushrooms and pancetta, Marinated sardine with grilled bread, Poultry livers with Granny Smith apple and Port wine, Salmon burger in black bread with sweet chilly, Lobster, shrimp and edible crab lasagna, Low temperature piglet with potato gratin, The Life of Pie or Livin’ la Piña Loca, among others. References that time took away from our menu – but did not erase from our hearts.

The same applies to the bar. With no votes but lots of reasons to come and visit during this extended party à la 100 Maneiras. On a journey through time, we bring back to the shakers some of the cocktails that marked the history of Bistro’s cocktail scene, such as Chá das Cinco, Bafo de Tigre, The Sky was Pink, Hulk, 100 Maneiras Strong, Apple and Eve, Damn!!! That’s Good and, in a special tribute, the Nabeiro Coqueteleiro – our version of the Expresso Martini, made with Delta coffee and renamed in honor of the late Commander, a reference figure for the group, whose connection to Delta is almost like family.

With the food and drinks ready to celebrate, the party plan continues with the birthday gift. A gift not for Bistro but from Bistro for those who are, after all, the reason for all this: those who for a few hours or countless times chose to make number 9 of Largo da Trindade their home. Until September 22nd, the challenge is for our clients to share, in their Instagram stories, a photo of a moment at Bistro 100 Maneiras, identifying Bistro’s account (@bistro100maneiras) and using the hashtag #Bistrosweet13. Bistro’s favorite photo will be announced on the 26th and the winner will get a dinner for two people with a special menu prepared by the kitchen team led by executive chef Manuel Maldonado and head chef Eugeniu Musteata, with drink pairing.

Let the party begin!