Praça das Flores is one of Lisbon’s most charming squares: a shaded, rectangular garden between São Bento and Jardim do Príncipe Real, laid out in the romantic style back in the 19th century. Several of its trees are classified as natural monuments, including a giant Bussaco cedar with a twenty-meter canopy, and on Saturdays a small organic produce market sets up here. It’s right on the edge of this square, at number 43, that Magnolia has made its home.
The story of the place is almost a neighborhood legend. Just a few years ago, an ordinary local bakery, Padaria Renascente, operated here, where neighbors would stop in for their morning coffee. Belgian photographer Yves Callewaert, who’s lived in Lisbon for 14 years and was known for hosting beautiful dinners at home, was a regular customer at that bakery. At some point he worked up the nerve to ask the owner out for coffee — not a date, a business conversation: the deal was struck in about fifteen minutes flat. Together with Brazilian chef Camila Martins, who trained in French pastry, he turned the bakery into a wine bar in under two months — renovations began in May, and the doors opened in July 2022.
The name Magnolia is a nod to the square itself, where magnolias grow, and, as the founders admit, a reference to Paul Thomas Anderson’s 1999 film of the same name: “We needed a flower name for this square, since there wasn’t a single place here named after one — and that’s how we landed on Magnolia.” A fresco on the ceiling survives from the old bakery, and after the renovation it stands out even more — the space was made brighter, but its spirit was kept intact.
The place is tiny — twenty seats at most — and lives two lives. By day it’s a café with a brunch menu: Turkish eggs, a croque madame with its own twist, and homemade smoothies. By night it’s a wine bar serving petiscos, small shared plates prepared by Camila in a miniature kitchen with no fixed rules: “It’s very informal cooking, comfort food,” as she puts it herself.
The menu is deliberately short and changes often: gazpacho, oysters, burrata with basil-pistachio pesto and focaccia toast, octopus, baked camembert with thyme honey, croquettes made with shrimp from the north, a shiitake brioche bun with comté and pepper jam. For dessert, a lemon-raspberry tart where Camila’s French training really shows.
The wine list matches the kitchen in spirit: no strict rules, not limited to natural or Portuguese wines — and it, too, is updated regularly.
Given the size of the place and its growing popularity, it’s best to book a table in advance — without a reservation you may find yourself waiting at the door while the tiny terrace fills up and spills straight out onto the square. On Mondays Magnolia is open for dinner only, from six in the evening, and it’s closed on Wednesdays. Without wine, you can easily eat for around €20.
