Nuno Mendes (born 1973) is a London-based Portuguese chef, former executive chef at

Chiltern Firehouse The Chiltern Firehouse is a temporarily-closed restaurant and boutique hotel located at 1 Chiltern Street in the Marylebone area of London, England. It occupies the Grade II listed building of the former Marylebone Fire Station, originally kno ...

, London.

Early life

Nuno Mendes was born and raised in

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

, Portugal.

Career

Mendes was trained at the

California Culinary Academy The California Culinary Academy (CCA) was a for-profit school, and an affiliate of Le Cordon Bleu located in San Francisco, California. Danielle Carlisle established the school in 1977 to train chefs using the European education model. The origi ...

in the 1990s, worked at

elBulli El Bulli () was a restaurant near the town of Roses, Spain, run by chef Ferran Adrià, later joined by Albert Adrià, and renowned for its modernist cuisine. Established in 1964, the restaurant overlooked Cala Montjoi, a bay on the Costa Brava of ...

, and has worked with

Wolfgang Puck Wolfgang Johannes Puck (born July 8, 1949) is an Austrian chef and restaurateur. Early life Puck was born in Sankt Veit an der Glan, Austria. He learned cooking from his mother, who was a pastry chef. He took the surname of his stepfather, Jos ...

, Rocco di Spirito, and

Jean-Georges Vongerichten Jean-Georges Vongerichten (; ; born March 16, 1957) is a French-American chef.

. In 2006, Mendes opened Bacchus, a

gastropub A gastropub or gastro pub is a pub that serves food of high quality, with a nearly equal emphasis on eating and drinking. The term was coined in the 1990s in the United Kingdom. History The term ''gastropub'' (derived from gastronomy) was coi ...

Hoxton Hoxton is an area in the London Borough of Hackney, England. It was Historic counties of England, historically in the county of Middlesex until 1889. Hoxton lies north-east of the City of London, is considered to be a part of London's East End ...

, and later opened The Loft Project, from his own apartment in

Shoreditch Shoreditch is an area in London, England and is located in the London Borough of Hackney alongside neighbouring parts of Tower Hamlets, which are also perceived as part of the area due to historic ecclesiastical links. Shoreditch lies just north ...

, "where some of the best chefs cooked in front of guests, offering a pioneering and intimate experience". In 2010, Mendes opened Viajante (Portuguese for "traveller") in

Bethnal Green Bethnal Green is an area in London, England, and is located in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is in east London and part of the East End of London, East End. The area emerged from the small settlement which developed around the common la ...

’s Town Hall Hotel, inspired by world cuisines. In its first year it received a

Michelin star The ''Michelin Guides'' ( ; ) are a series of guide books that have been published by the French tyre company Michelin since 1900. The ''Guide'' awards up to three Michelin stars for excellence to a select few restaurants in certain geographic ...

and was included in the 2013

World's 50 Best Restaurants The World's 50 Best Restaurants is a list produced by the UK media company William Reed, which originally appeared in the British magazine ''Restaurant'' in 2002. The list and awards are no longer directly related to ''Restaurant'', though th ...

. One critic said of the restaurant, "Nuno Mendes has brought a taste of El Bulli to the East End".

Giles Coren Giles Robin Patrick Coren (born 29 July 1969) is a British columnist, food writer, and television and radio presenter. He has been a restaurant critic for ''The Times'' newspaper since 2002, and was named Food and Drink Writer of the Year at th ...

of ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'' referred to Mendes as "every restaurant critic's secret favourite cook". In March 2022, Mendes opened a Portuguese restaurant, ''Lisboeta'' on

Charlotte Street Charlotte Street is a street in Fitzrovia, historically part of the parish and borough of St Pancras, in central London. It has been described, together with its northern and southern extensions (Fitzroy Street and Rathbone Place), as the ' ...

, London.

Personal life

Mendes has a daughter and twin sons, with his partner Clarise, a South African stylist.

Selected works

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mendes, Nuno 1973 births Living people Portuguese chefs People from Lisbon California Culinary Academy alumni English people of Portuguese descent