The Yeatman

About The Yeatman

The Yeatman is the two-Michelin-star restaurant inside the wine hotel of the same name, perched above the port lodges of Vila Nova de Gaia with the old city of Porto spread across the Douro. Chef Ricardo Costa has run the kitchen since it opened, taking a first Michelin star in 2011 and a second in 2017, and his cooking pairs contemporary technique with a deep loyalty to Portuguese tradition and produce.

This is destination fine dining with one of the country's great wine cellars attached. For the city's other top rooms, compare chef Tiago Bonito's starred ÉON, the seasonal cooking at Pedro Lemos and the seafront Casa de Chá da Boa Nova. For a milestone night, see our anniversary dining guide.

The Kitchen

Costa serves a single, ever-changing tasting menu built on two ideas: top-quality seasonal Portuguese produce and the country's own traditions reworked with modern technique. The menu leans heavily on the day's catch - wafer-thin amberjack, tuna belly, the long range of fish from the Atlantic coast - and is anchored by a signature suckling pig whose recipe the kitchen guards closely. Each course is conceived to move the diner through Portugal's regions and wine country, and the cellar, one of the deepest in the country, is the reason many book: the pairings reach into rare Douro and Portuguese bottles. Prices sit at the top of the city's range, matched to two stars and a long evening; this is a kitchen that asks for an open schedule and rewards it.

The Room

The dining room is grand and serene, with a terrace and floor-to-ceiling views across the Douro to the tiled facades of old Porto - among the best dining-room views in the country, and a large part of the appeal at sunset. The hotel sits on Rua do Choupelo among the historic port cellars of Vila Nova de Gaia, a short taxi or a walk across the Dom Luís bridge from central Porto. Service is formal, polished and paced to the tasting menu, with a sommelier team that drives much of the experience. The restaurant opens for dinner, the room is sizeable but books out for the best window tables, and reserving ahead - especially for a sunset seating - is essential.