Brat is one of those restaurants where the moment you walk in, you begin to celebrate food and chefs. The open kitchen welcomes you to watch turbots turned in cages over the flames, beef leaking fat as it sizzles on the grill, and breads being popped in and out of the pizza oven, then decorated with olive oil and anchovies.

Ever since I watched Clare Smyth judge on Netflix’s The Final Table, she has become one of my chef crushes, and I have wanted to visit her restaurant.

At the top of every Lisbon restaurant list sits Belcanto, the Portuguese food jewel of the city. Run by Chef José Avillez, and awarded 2 Michelin stars in 2014, Belcanto was 42nd on 2021’s World’s 50 Best Restaurants, and 46th on 2022’s list.

When we decided we were headed to Lisbon for two weeks, the first thing I did was look for must-make restaurant bookings. Alma came up time and time again, as a 2 Michelin-starred and 50 Best Discovery restaurant.

When M and I first started thinking about going to Italy, my first thought—before which cities we should visit, how many dishes of pasta we’d have to try, or what sundresses to bring—was that we’d have to try to get a reservation at Osteria Francescana.