Nuno Mendes on health, fame and returning to his roots

The Portuguese chef tells The Week Portfolio about the project that brought him home

nuno-mendez.jpg
(Image credit: @manuelmanso)

Portuguese chef Nuno Mendes is the world-renowned creative force behind one of London’s most popular restaurants – the Chiltern Firehouse. But as he enters his 47th year, and after a career that has taken him from the US to Spain, then Japan and for the last ten years the UK, he is now opening his first restaurant in the city where he grew up: Lisbon.

The Week Portfolio caught up with the chef to ask him about how he feels about his critics, what led him to mount a project in Portugal, and why he believes that “happy people make happy food”.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us

Arion McNicoll is a freelance writer at The Week Digital and was previously the UK website’s editor. He has also held senior editorial roles at CNN, The Times and The Sunday Times. Along with his writing work, he co-hosts “Today in History with The Retrospectors”, Rethink Audio’s flagship daily podcast, and is a regular panellist (and occasional stand-in host) on “The Week Unwrapped”. He is also a judge for The Publisher Podcast Awards.