The house
Velvet in Chiado
The Velvet Table opened in Lisbon in 2016, in a Chiado house where the light stays low and the service stays quiet. The name belongs to the room: a quiet table, and plates built around a few ingredients, chosen for the season and for the hand that grew them.
Mateo Alves’ cooking joins Portuguese memory with the discipline of a European dining room. Atlantic fish, inland gardens, slow fermentations. Nothing is added unless it serves the flavour.
In 2023 the Michelin Guide awarded the restaurant a star. The pace of the house did not change: two services, few seats, a cellar built with the sommelier.
One Michelin star
Michelin Guide, 2023. Twenty-eight seats and a menu that moves with the sea.
People
Who keeps the house
Mateo Alves
Chef patron
Raised between Lisbon and Piedmont. He has led the kitchen since opening day, with a brigade of eight.
Inês Carvalho
Chef de cuisine
She looks after the main courses and the savoury larder. She worked in Porto before joining the house in 2019.
Rafael Costa
Sommelier
He keeps a short cellar, centred on the Atlantic and on a few Italian and French regions.
Sofia Mendes
Maître
She welcomes the room and holds the book. The pace of service, from the first glass to coffee, is hers.
