Restaurant in Lisbon, Portugal
Bib Gourmand Mexican. Central Lisbon. Book it.
Carnal holds the Michelin Bib Gourmand for 2024 and 2025, making it the clearest call for serious Mexican cooking in Lisbon at a €€ price point. The sharing-plate gastrobar format, central Chiado-adjacent address, and relatively easy booking make it a practical anchor for any Lisbon food itinerary. Book it as the informal counterpoint to the city's starred tasting-menu rooms.
Carnal has held the Michelin Bib Gourmand in both 2024 and 2025, which means it clears the bar for quality that the guide's inspectors consider worth a detour — at a price point that stays well below its starred neighbours on Rua da Misericórdia. For explorers after something genuinely different from Lisbon's dominant Portuguese-modern format, this Mexican gastrobar is one of the clearest calls in the city. Book it without much anxiety: availability is relatively easy compared to the city's starred rooms, making it a practical anchor for a Lisbon itinerary rather than a calendar-blocking event.
Carnal sits at R. da Misericórdia 78, in one of central Lisbon's most restaurant-dense corridors. The address alone puts it within easy reach of the Chiado and Bairro Alto, which means you are likely to walk past it on any evening out in that part of the city. The room is informal and designed for it: this is not a place that asks you to perform a special occasion. The visual register is casual, the ambience modern, and the format is built around sharing plates rather than a linear tasting progression.
The kitchen operates under chef James Zamory, within the broader 100 Maneiras group led by the well-known Ljubomir Stanisic. That group context matters because it signals a level of operational consistency and creative ambition that independent casual restaurants do not always sustain. The Bib Gourmand is awarded to restaurants where the inspectors find good cooking at moderate prices, and two consecutive years of that recognition confirms Carnal is not coasting on the group's reputation.
The menu runs through the antojito format — tostadas, gringas, tacos , that forms the structural backbone of Mexican street and casual dining. The tacos al pastor and cauliflower tacos are specifically called out as not-to-miss items, and the format is designed so that two or three people can move across multiple dishes without committing to a single main. That flexibility is one of Carnal's practical advantages over the tasting-menu-only format you will find at the city's €€€€ rooms.
What gives Carnal its editorial angle is the sourcing decisions visible in the menu's more unusual entries. Alongside the familiar antojito repertoire, the kitchen offers guacamole with insects and chicharrón featuring larvae and crickets. These are not gimmicks dropped in for social media effect: both dishes connect directly to pre-Columbian Mexican culinary tradition, where insects have been a protein source for centuries and remain a feature of contemporary high-end Mexican cooking at restaurants like Pujol in Mexico City and Animalón in Valle de Guadalupe. Carnal's willingness to include those ingredients in Lisbon, at a €€ price point, is a signal about where the kitchen's reference points actually sit: it is drawing from the same culinary tradition that Michelin-starred Mexican restaurants take seriously, not from a simplified export version of the cuisine.
The tequila cocktail program extends that logic. Tequila and mezcal are the natural pairing register for this style of food, and a gastrobar that sources and serves them properly adds a dimension that a wine-list-only room would miss. If you are building an evening around the food, factor in at least one round of cocktails as part of the experience rather than an afterthought.
Carnal works well for solo diners and pairs , the sharing-plate format and informal room make it low-pressure for anyone arriving without a group. It is a strong choice for food-focused travellers who have already done or are planning one of Lisbon's bigger-ticket tasting experiences at venues like Belcanto, CURA, or 50 Seconds from Martin Berasategui, and want to balance the itinerary with something looser and less formal. It also works as the first night in Lisbon before you have decided how to allocate the bigger-spend evenings.
Groups of three or four will find the sharing-plate format genuinely suits the table dynamic here. The informal setup means conversation flows more easily than at a counter-only or tasting-menu room. For special occasions that require a sense of occasion in the room itself, look elsewhere , but for groups who want to eat well without the formality overhead, Carnal is a practical pick.
For context on what else is worth your time in the city, see our full Lisbon restaurants guide, Lisbon bars guide, and Lisbon hotels guide. If you are extending beyond the city, Vila Joya in Albufeira, The Yeatman in Vila Nova de Gaia, and Casa de Chá da Boa Nova in Leça da Palmeira are the benchmarks for starred dining at the Portugal scale. For Porto specifically, Antiqvvm is the reference point, and Il Gallo d'Oro in Funchal is worth the trip to Madeira if you are going that far.
| Venue | Cuisine | Price | Booking Difficulty | Michelin Recognition |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Carnal | Mexican Gastrobar | €€ | Easy | Bib Gourmand 2024, 2025 |
| Belcanto | Modern Portuguese | €€€€ | Hard | 2 Michelin Stars |
| 50 Seconds from Martin Berasategui | Progressive Spanish | €€€€ | Hard | 1 Michelin Star |
| CURA | Modern Portuguese | €€€€ | Moderate | 1 Michelin Star |
| Eleven | Portuguese Creative | €€€€ | Moderate | 1 Michelin Star |
Carnal is the only Michelin Bib Gourmand Mexican concept in central Lisbon, so direct like-for-like alternatives are limited. For Michelin-recognised value at a similar price point, Grenache is the closest peer. If the draw is the 100 Maneiras group's creative cooking rather than Mexican specifically, 100 Maneiras itself runs a more ambitious tasting format. For a step up in formality and spend, Belcanto (two Michelin stars) and Loco are in a different tier entirely.
Carnal describes itself as a Mexican gastrobar operating at the €€ price range, which positions it as a sharing-plates venue rather than a classic tasting-menu destination. The Michelin Bib Gourmand recognises good cooking at a moderate price, not elaborate multi-course progression. Order across the antojito and taco sections, include at least one of the more unusual dishes, and treat it as a casual spread rather than a structured menu.
Carnal is a Mexican gastrobar in central Lisbon on Rua da Misericórdia, backed by the 100 Maneiras group and chef Ljubomir Stanisic. It holds the Michelin Bib Gourmand for 2024 and 2025, which means the inspectors consider it good value for the quality. First-timers should know the menu leans into sharing plates — tacos al pastor and cauliflower tacos are specifically noted — and some dishes push into unusual territory, including guacamole with insects. A tequila cocktail is worth adding.
Yes. The gastrobar format and informal room make solo dining low-pressure here. At €€, ordering two or three dishes works without commitment to a full group spread. The central Lisbon address on Rua da Misericórdia means it fits easily into a solo evening itinerary without detour.
Carnal describes itself as a casual, informal venue — the 'gastrobar' label and Bib Gourmand positioning both point away from formal dress. Neat casual clothing is appropriate. There is no indication from the venue's own description that anything more formal is expected or required.
At €€ in Lisbon with a back-to-back Michelin Bib Gourmand (2024 and 2025), Carnal clears the value bar comfortably. The Bib Gourmand is specifically the Michelin designation for good cooking at a moderate price, so the price-to-quality case is externally validated. For the same spend elsewhere in Lisbon, you are unlikely to find Mexican cooking with the same level of recognition.
It depends on what the occasion calls for. Carnal is a casual, informal gastrobar — the Bib Gourmand signals quality, but the room and format are not designed around ceremony. For a relaxed celebratory dinner where good food and an interesting menu matter more than formality, it works well. For milestone events where the setting itself needs to carry weight, Belcanto or Feitoria would be more appropriate.
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