MJMK Restaurants to open Portuguese restaurant Luso

This September Luso, a contemporary Portuguese restaurant from MJMK Restaurants, will launch on Charlotte Street. 

The 90 cover restaurant will see the ground floor converted into a seated, 30-cover dining area with an extended limestone tiled floor.

The menu, which uses “exceptional, well-sourced” ingredients, was developed in collaboration with Portuguese chef and Mugaritz alumnus Leandro Carreira, and is “shaped by the sea, land, and centuries-old wood fire cooking techniques”.

Luso’s opening menu offers modern takes on traditional dishes, including Salt Baked Wild Sea Bass, Clams à Bulhão Pato and oven-roasted suckling pig. Pregos – steak sliders with brown butter, Portuguese Savora mustard, and garlic – will be served at lunchtime until sold out. 

A limited number of daily specials, such as Cornish Spider Crab Tartare and Baked Lobster Rice, will also be chalked up on a blackboard. Desserts include Portuguese classics like Tocinho do Céu and baked Pineapple Pudding.

A curated selection of wines from Europe feature on its wine list, accompanying a short list of cocktails. 

The term Luso is derived from ‘Lusitania’, the Roman name for the region now known as Portugal. 

MJMK co-founders Marco Mendes and Jake Kasumov said: “This is a proud moment for MJMK – to honour the legacy of Lisboeta and support its evolution into Luso is incredibly special. We’re looking forward to this next chapter for both the team and the restaurant. 

“It’s a sentimental moment being able to bring to London the dishes from the lesser-known parts of Portugal and offer a menu that taps into the crossover with Andalusian, Basque, and Galician cooking.”