Boubou's in Lisbon: A Culinary Journey

See what it's like to eat dinner at Boubou's - the only Lisbon restaurant helmed by a winner of Top Chef France. With separate tasting menus designed for vegetarians and omnivores, the upscale bistro is notable for its modern international cuisine and inspired wine program.

Signature Dish at Boubou's in LisbonPhoto by2foodtrippers

There's a fictionally held version of Lisbon - a rendition where Portuguese descendants of Vasco de Gama, Luis Camões and Amalia Rodrigues roam calçada strewn streets, jump on the 28 tram and eat pasteis de natas after every meal.

Open since 2018, BouBou's contradicts this version.

The real Lisbon has rough and ready neighborhoods like Mouraria and Martim Moniz, broken escalators, over-touristed streets and avenues filled with international immigrants from Brazil, France, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Ukraine.. These people of many nations traverse the city alongside the local Portuguese who have called Lisbon home for millenia.

Similar to those immigrants, BouBou's Chef Louise Bourrat didn't grow up in Portugal. She spent her early years in Lyon and traveled extensively before landing in Portugal's capital city. However, unlike most recent arrivals, her mother is Portuguese.

It's important to understand this background when you eat at Boubou's. It provides context. But BouBou's is a restaurant where the food tells the story. And, in our case, the food told two stories - one terrae (of the land, i.e. vegetarian) and one omnivorous (both plants and meat).

Our Dinner at BouBou's

We made some good decisions for our dinner at BouBou's.

For starters, we arrived early, at 7:30pm, and sat at the chef's counter. This early arrival time allowed us to leisurely enjoy our multi-course meal while our seats gave us a front-row view to the action. Don't get us wrong - the patio dining room's pastoral decor is lovely. But, to us, it's fun to watch the innovative chef and her talented brigade at work while partaking in the restaurant's vast food vision.

Another good decision was to order two different tasting menus, terrae and omnvorous, and their associated wine pairings. While we're usually 'by the bottle' people, Ukranian sommelier Anastasiia Kornilova's thoughtful wine selection is the better way to go.

Kornilova has sourced an eclectic selection of wines locally in Portugal as well as from countries like France, Germany, Georgia and Spain. During our meal, highlight pours included a crisp riesling from Mosel, a fruity yellow wine from Catalonia, a brilliant macerated orange Rkatsiteli blend from Georgia and a rich red from Bairrada (which is becoming one of our favorite Portuguese wine regions).

However, we found the meal's true highlights in the food. Each course, or moment as they're so often called these days, was visually striking - none more so than the meat-free 'dim sum' dumpling served early in our meal.

That dumpling was deceptively small - essentially just one bite. But a bite into the delicate dumpling skin revealed curry masala flavors that took us directly to Lisbon’s international immigrant alley, the Rua do Benformoso, in Mouraria.

Another bite into an artfully composed sardine served with a charcoal laden sauce over a delicate crunchy tuile transported us to Lisbon's Madragoa neighborhood in June. That's the month when Portuguese grills crackle and smoke as the little fish grills over open coals.

We should mention that Bourrat’s food is utterly beautiful - adorned with flowers, artful foams and balanced yet innovative sauce work. Her hamachi 'moment' verified this point. While Lisbon is a city filled with an inordinate number of Japanese restaurants, this fish dish channeled the art of Japanese cuisine more so than any of those establishments hope to achieve.

Bourrat’s food transported our taste buds beyond Lisbon.

One of her signature dishes placed small gnocchi-like mounds of sweet potato atop leche de tigre and kaffir. The chef went an extra step by garnishing the beautiful melange with chili. Bourrat loves to travel and, in this dish, she achieved plenty of tropically inspired acidity plus a good dose of heat from the chilies which belies her French roots.

Pro Tip: You can experience more of Chef Louise Bourrat's international flavors at BouBou's Sandwich Club which is conveniently located across the street from BouBou's.

Unfortunately, like many fine dining rooms these days, BouBou’s is caught on Michelin’s conveyor belt of dining homogeneity. The side effects include fashion model plates, snacks that provide an overly extended overture, overly conceptual food and one too many desserts that make the end of a meal feel like the end of a four act opera. (Bourrat told us that she has ambitions to open a bistro. We'll be the first in line when and if that happens.)

One of our desserts, green apple panna cotta, would have been a fine end to our meal. It had a wonderful balance of sour apple acidity that artfully combined with petit mounds of fatty panna cream. However, two more desserts (plus delightful sips of 20-year tawny port) followed. One, a mystical marriage of black garlic, miso and shitake in a sweet and salty package, was the dessert that sealed Bourrat's Top Chef win.

Boubou’s is a worthy splurge if you're looking to celebrate a special occasion or if you want to experience some of Lisbon's most innovative cuisine. It's a restaurant with a talented chef who could cook anywhere in the world. We feel lucky to have her here in Lisbon.

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