Chef Marlene Vieira is the first Portuguese woman in 30 years to win a Michelin star.
Chef Marlene Vieira , 45, has won her first MICHELIN star, a long-awaited achievement. Marlene is the first Portuguese woman to receive this distinction in the country in the last 30 years. Eight new restaurants were recognized with a MICHELIN star at the ceremony held at Alfândega do Porto. The MICHELIN Guide Portugal 2025 also awarded chef Rita Magro who won a star for the restaurant Blind, together with chef Vítor Matos.
At the MICHELIN Gala held on Tuesday, February 25, chef Marlene Vieira made history by winning a MICHELIN star for Marlene, her haute cuisine restaurant located at the Lisbon Cruise Terminal.
Marlene Vieira is the first Portuguese woman to receive this distinction in the country in the last 30 years. It is worth remembering that only Maria Alice Marto won a MICHELIN star in 1993 and in 1996, through her restaurant Ti’ Alice, in Fátima.
Chef Marlene, 45, considers herself a “woman from the North” and when receiving the award she was visibly moved and thanked “all the mothers who cook”. Marlene Vieira also stressed that “dreams rule life and this is a dream come true. I want to thank my husband who is my greatest inspiration”, said the chef.
The chef from Maia won her first MICHELIN star, a rare achievement for women in Portugal, with a career in the kitchen that began at the age of 12 “while her father delivered meat to the restaurant. At the age of 16, she enrolled in the Santa Maria da Feira hotel school. Marlene believes that the word “celebrate” goes well with a good dinner and that a meal should be shared, meaning that each diner should bring their own snack”, as can be read in her biographical notes.
Marlene’s restaurant now has a MICHELIN star, a “clean space where a gastronomic journey is served” that reflects the chef’s learning, as can be read on the restaurant’s official website.
Marlene describes herself as “an irreverent, vibrant and rebellious space, with a strong attraction to novelty. The minimalist and elegant space will only serve dinners, from Wednesday to Saturday. “It is a search for modern Portuguese cuisine, with concerns about sustainability and seasonality”, describes the website. “Here you will find a proposal guided by seasonal products and sustainability, just as Marlene Vieira’s cuisine has always been. In terms of menu, we will have two options: one with 12 moments and another shorter one, with 7 moments, to which you can add a wine pairing”.
In addition to the Marlene restaurant, the Portuguese chef runs Zunzum Gastrobar, which serves a more relaxed cuisine, also located in the Lisbon Cruise Terminal, and has a space at Time Out Market Lisboa, in the Mercado da Ribeira, in Cais do Sodré.
At the MICHELIN Portugal 2025 Gala, eight restaurants that had already received two stars in the last edition of the gala were awarded the same award again. At the 2025 ceremony, chef Rita Magro also won a star for the Blind restaurant, together with chef Vítor Matos.