A samba tune plays among the tables in the dining room of the restaurant, which has the air of an authentic Brazilian boteco, and behind the counter two staff members chat in Brazilian Portuguese. At the door, a lush palm tree welcomes guests, but despite the signs, the looks, and the suggestive name — O Palmeiral — this little gem in Príncipe Real has Italian DNA.
Italian from Rome, to be precise, where the owner Daniel Bernardi left more than two decades ago to gain experience and make a living in London, until Brexit in 2020 placed him before a crossroads: stay or leave?
Lisbon was no stranger, on the contrary — the Portuguese capital was an old acquaintance, a stopover between London’s grey skies and the intense blue of the Algarve.
In Lisbon, Daniel stayed at his father-in-law’s home, a building on Travessa da Palmeira, whose window overlooked another crossroads — less challenging and more pleasant — formed by the junction of Rua de São Marçal with two other alleyways, Santa Teresa and São José.
From the window of his father-in-law’s apartment, the Roman watched the comings and goings at the Mozambican restaurant Moya, right at the epicentre of the crossroads, without imagining that one day that would be the starting point of his life in Lisbon.
“The owner of Moya, Bruno Carvalho, was my friend. I used to go there and we talked a lot. Until the pandemic made the restaurant’s situation impractical. One day, Bruno mentioned that he was going to sell it, and I thought it was a sign for me to move to Lisbon for good,” Daniel recalls.
And so, in July 2025, number 1 Rua de São Marçal, just a few steps from Príncipe Real Garden, welcomed a new tenant: an Italian restaurant with an unpretentious vibe — but when the food arrives at the table, its true ambition becomes clear: not to be just another Italian restaurant in Lisbon, but to rank among the best.
This ambition was confirmed by ImmigrantFoodies, who recognized the cuisine of O Palmeiral among the 101 Top Restaurants of Lisbon, published in partnership with Mensagem de Lisboa.
here the 101 TOP
A neighbor of Príncipe Real
Two years later, the move that began when O Palmeiral opened its doors is complete, with Daniel’s wife and daughter settling permanently in Lisbon. Daniel now has his full Lisbon routine and does not hide his happiness with the choice — or scelta, as he often repeats in his mother tongue — of trading London for Lisbon.
And Lisbon also benefited from Daniel’s scelta. O Palmeiral is proof of this dialogue between Rome and Lisbon — an Italian restaurant with the relaxed spirit of a tasca: in the morning it invites you for a sunny breakfast or snacks with friends, and at night the wooden tables are dressed with white cloths as it takes on its Roman trattoria persona.
“Much is said about the similarities between Italians and Spaniards, but I’m increasingly convinced that Portugal has much more in common with Italy than with Spain,” Daniel says, while waving to a Portuguese neighbour greeting him at the door.
O Palmeiral’s relationship with the neighbourhood is vital in a space where every square centimetre must be used. Without room for large storage or wine cellars, the food supplies and wine come from a local grocery and bottle shop. Until recently, the meat also came from a neighbouring butcher, before it closed to become short-term accommodation.
“But we made an arrangement with the former owners and continue buying meat from them even after the closure. For me, it’s important to keep this village life right in the centre of the city,” Daniel stresses.
This synergy among neighbours translates into the gastronomic friendliness of a concise, focused menu inspired by a Lisbon icon, O Galeto, where at any hour you can go with the certainty that your appetite will be satisfied. “I love this Lisbon style of arriving, sitting at a counter, and eating well,” he says.
A menu that unites Portugal and Italy
The emotional connection between Italy and Portugal is evident in the snacks, with Leiria sausages and pork bifanas, and in the primi and secondi dishes: octopus salad, tuna fillet, and even a salt cod with chickpeas — which Daniel insists is also a typically Roman dish — not to mention classics of Italian cuisine such as ossobuco and eggplant parmigiana.
All produced in a kitchen that matches the minimalism of the space. “It’s unbelievable what is done in such a tiny place,” Daniel says of the restaurant’s modest nine square metres — small only in size, not in spirit. It is in this airplane-cockpit-like space that three cooks take turns preparing the menu designed by Brazilian chef Lucas Melo.
The unpretentious style of O Palmeiral, mentioned earlier — both in its décor, which really evokes a laid-back Brazilian boteco, and in its warmly Portuguese hospitality — is another highlight, and despite being located in one of Lisbon’s most touristy zones, it maintains a mostly local clientele.
The cherry on top of the relaxed atmosphere — beyond the palm tree outside, whose shade should not be ignored on summer days — is the small display case where Daniel shows artworks created by artist friends. At Christmas, however, O Palmeiral’s gallery is reserved for a family member: “It’s the time for my father-in-law to set up his nativity scene,” he explains.
A nativity scene in a gift from Italy that Lisbon has received.
O jornalismo que a Mensagem de Lisboa faz une comunidades,
conta histórias que ninguém conta e muda vidas.
Dantes pagava-se com publicidade,
mas isso agora é terreno das grandes plataformas.
Se gosta do que fazemos e acha que é importante,
se quer fazer parte desta comunidade cada vez maior,
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