Taking over the site that once belonged to Nuno Mendes’ beloved Lisboeta, Luso reimagines the former Portuguese restaurant through a more relaxed lens, with a focus on sharing dishes inspired by the Iberian coastline, and a wine list that champions Portugal’s most exciting terroirs. It’s a bold move swapping one Portuguese concept for another, but Luso is backed by some of the industry's strongest culinary heavyweights. MJMK Restaurants are the powerhouse group behind the opening and, at the time of writing, chef Leandro Carreira (The Sea, The Sea) oversees the food, while head chef Kimberley Hernandez (Dosa, Luca) runs the kitchen.
Preamble aside, Luso shows early signs of a stellar restaurant in the making. The space has undergone a light redesign, pivoting from counter-focused seating downstairs to accommodate larger circular tables, while on the first floor, a modestly sized dining room offers more breathing room for celebrations and group dinners. The space is warm, stylish and homely, with wooden furnishings and bespoke prints on the walls depicting under-the-sea life. Above all, it is beautiful. Even its creamy yellow frontage looks like a shopfront out of a storybook.
The menu champions seasonal, high-quality ingredients in their purest form, from Algarvian-style pickled carrots to thick Requeijão cream cheese, which we slather generously on slices of crusty sourdough. Elsewhere, whole sea bass - cooked in a salt casing to lock in moisture - is succulent and flavourful, while neat slices of slow-cooked Iberico pork come with paper-thin, glass-like skin.
These are rustic, lovingly-cooked dishes where exceptional produce is given the breathing room to shine. There isn’t much to hide behind of course, and the odd dish lacks finesse. A dessert of cold fermented rice pudding finished with sliced strawberries resembles porridge more than a pudding, and a bowl of garlicky clams doesn’t quite justify its £29 price tag.
Still, Luso is a terrific restaurant. Even sitting in its low-lit dining room with an olive oil Martini and one of its lobster pastry rolls would be a joyous experience. It’s not cheap, per se, but for those whose pockets run shallow, the upside is you can pop in for a beer and a Prego (steak sandwich) at lunchtime and still have change from a twenty.