SEM

The story

SEM Lisbon: Zero-Waste Restaurant with Michelin Recommendation

A Mindset of Regeneration

In the heart of Lisbon’s Alfama district, SEM operates on a simple but radical premise: nothing is wasted, and everything is considered. This zero-waste restaurant earned a Michelin Recommended distinction for its disciplined, creative approach to cooking. The team works with regenerative producers, building menus around what is in the ground right now, what has been preserved from previous seasons, and what can be foraged from the wild.

The restaurant’s name, SEM, reflects its philosophy—creating in absence. The kitchen uses fermentation and preservation techniques to transform by-products into future ingredients. A wall of ferments serves as the starting point for every new dish, connecting past menus to present ones.

The Food on the Plate

The tasting menu showcases this closed-loop system. A winter yacon dish, for example, is served raw, seasoned with a reduction of its own juiced skin and trim, then finished with beer foam vinegar and lemon thyme stalk vinegar. It sits over a sunflower seed praline in a ginger broth, topped with fermented celery. Simple in appearance, complex in execution.

Seafood comes from the zander, an invasive river fish whose devastating impact on freshwater habitats in Portugal means it must never be returned to the water. SEM has not used ocean fish since 2022, instead turning this ecological problem into a delicious, sustainable staple. The kitchen avoids high-end products like caviar or foie gras, finding greater value in transforming overlooked ingredients into the star of the show.

The Team Behind the Mission

Founders Lara Espirito Santo, Brazilian, and George McLeod, a New Zealander, met in London at a Bonobo gig in 2018. Both were already committed to environmental action—Lara through sustainable development projects in Brazil, George through years cooking in New Zealand and Australia. They worked together at Doug McMaster’s SILO before a temporary escape to Portugal became permanent. In summer 2021, they opened SEM.

The restaurant is currently closed, but its influence on Lisbon’s zero-waste cuisine and its commitment to a future food system remain clear. For private hire and events, the team is still active.