Downunder by Justin Jennings

Is Downunder by Justin Jennings worth booking in Lisbon?

Yes, the answer is quicker than you might expect. Downunder sits at the €€ price point, holds consecutive Michelin Plates for 2024 and 2025, serves Australian contemporary cuisine in a city where the format exists almost nowhere else. If you have already covered the Portuguese fine-dining circuit and want something that earns its Michelin recognition without the €€€€ price tag, this is the booking to make.

What Downunder Actually Is

Chef Fabio Abbattista runs a small, unpretentious room on Rua dos Industriais in Lisbon, where the menu is built around Australian contemporary cooking, including exotic proteins like crocodile and kangaroo that are genuinely rare on any European menu. The format gives you a choice: order à la carte or commit to one of two set menus. Neither option is a detour from the main event. The set menus are the more considered way to experience the range of the kitchen, but à la carte works well if you want to move at your own pace or focus on specific proteins.

Michelin awarded the Plate in consecutive years, recognising cooking that meets the guide's quality threshold without yet reaching star level. For a €€ venue, that combination is the definition of disproportionate return.

The Australian Contemporary Format

Australian contemporary cooking, as a category, draws on influences from Southeast Asia, the Pacific, British culinary traditions, while centering native and regional ingredients. At Downunder, the headline ingredients are the meats: kangaroo is a lean, iron-rich red meat with a flavour profile closer to venison than beef, crocodile is white-fleshed, mild, texturally more delicate than its reputation suggests. These are not novelty items tacked onto a conventional menu. In the Australian context, both are legitimate proteins with culinary traditions behind them. Lisbon diners who have not encountered either are getting an accurate introduction, not a tourist approximation.

For comparable Australian contemporary cooking, Sixpenny in Stanmore and Heh in Phuket represent the format at different price points and geographies, but neither operates in Lisbon. That absence matters when you are here.

Who Should Book, When

If you visited Downunder once and ordered à la carte, the return case is the set menu. It covers more ground and gives the kitchen room to pace a meal rather than respond to individual orders. The two-menu structure suggests a shorter and a longer option, which makes it practical for both a weeknight dinner and a more extended occasion.

At €€ pricing, the risk of over-committing is low. This is not the kind of restaurant where a wrong decision on format costs you €150 per head. Go with the longer set menu unless time is genuinely short.

Booking is rated Easy, so you do not need to plan weeks in advance the way you would for Lisbon's Michelin-starred rooms. Booking two to three days ahead for weekend sittings is sensible. Weeknight availability is likely more open.

Practical Details

Downunder by Justin Jennings is at R. dos Industriais 21, 1200-685 Lisboa. The price range is €€, making it one of the more accessible Michelin-recognised tables in the city. Phone and website details are not currently listed in our records. Hours are not confirmed in our database, so check current opening times before you go.

For broader context on where this sits in Lisbon's restaurant scene, see our full Lisbon restaurants guide. If you are planning a full trip, our Lisbon hotels guide, bars guide, wineries guide, and experiences guide cover the rest.

Beyond Lisbon, Portugal's decorated table scene extends to Vila Joya in Albufeira, Casa de Chá da Boa Nova in Leça da Palmeira, The Yeatman in Vila Nova de Gaia, Ocean in Porches, Antiqvvm in Porto, and Il Gallo d'Oro in Funchal.

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