Pit To Plate: The Foodie’s Guide To Portugal’s Chefs On Fire Festival

The 7th Edition of Chefs On Fire is back and it’s returning to Cascais from September 20 – 21, 2025.

Hands down, this is easily the best food and music festival in Portugal and it’s been so well received that not only have they been bringing it back year after year, but they’ve started doing full pop-up events in other parts of Portugal. This will also be the second year they are hosting an international event in Madrid, that will take place on October 4 – 5, 2025.

If this is your first year attending Chefs On Fire, or you’re thinking of going, this will explain everything you need to know starting from the beginning along with a behind the scenes look at this one-of-a-kind experience.

What’s New At Chefs On Fire 2025

Chef on Fire is returning to a two-day format on September 20 – 21. It’s dropping the Friday event and focusing on the weekend. As someone who attended all three days, it’s a lot and I welcome concentrating the music acts and the many great chefs into two days.

They are also moving to a new venue at the Parque Marechal Carmona, relocating from the previous spot at Fiartil in Estoril. It’s now right in the heart of Cascais and close to the waterfront.

I’m especially excited as a photographer, because I expect all the familiar charm, but with a new feel and vibe to the festival ground.

Let’s start from the beginning with the man behind the curtain.

Quick Jump Links

1. Who Is Gonçalo?
2. Chefs On Fire: Origin Story
3. What To Expect: Food, Music, and Festival
4. Pricing and Ticket Info
5. Final Thoughts

Gonçalo And The Golden Rolodex

Gonçalo Castel-Branco is the creator behind Chefs on Fire. From what I learned, he was once a political campaign strategist. Nowadays, he’s someone who comes up with grand ideas and then brings it to life ‘before someone else does it and you wished you were the one that did it.’ Sounds like a more fun job.

At my first Chefs on Fire event, I was introduced to incredible circle of chefs, food writers and influencers from around the world, and the who’s who of Portugal’s culinary scene. I jokingly asked one of Gonçalo’s close friend if he knew every famous chef in Portugal.

Not just chefs. Everyone. He’s a walking rolodex.

A golden rolodex and someone who epitomizes what Malcolm Gladwell describes as ‘connectors’ in The Tipping Point.

In 2017, he launched The Presidential Train (I highly recommend the read), another one of his grand ideas, turning a century-old decommissioned historic train carriage into a masterclass gastronomic experience taking guests from Porto to the Douro Valley wine region of Northern Portugal. That idea came from a simple visit to a National Railway Museum and falling in love with a train.

As he tells it, “at dinner that night when I tried to share what I had seen with my family and said, ‘we must have an idea for this train!,’ my 10-year-old daughter replied, ‘why don’t we make a restaurant on it?’”

That idea stuck, and after years of planning, restoration work, and pitching the idea to investors, partners, and chefs, he gave the Presidential Train a second lease of life. For a couple of months every year, the train was taken out of the museum and Michelin-starred chefs were brought on to design and cook an ephemeral menu just for that journey.

Chefs on Fire was built on that same instinct and coincidentally germinated from another family dinner.

A Brief History Of Chefs On Fire: The Origin Story

His sister wanted him to plan a special birthday celebration, so Gonçalo improvised a backyard feast for 60 guests, digging a fire pit to bury vegetables and hung meats from a tree branch to slow cook over the flames. Good slow food enjoyed outdoors amongst close friends.

He wanted to recreate that magical experience as a festival and started inviting all his favorite chefs and musicians to take part.

Chefs on Fire’s culinary concept is rustic cooking with little more than wood, coals, and their creative license. Add a carefully curated music line-up performed on smaller, intimate stages, cocktails to go with everything, and a set design that feels as much an art installation as a quirky place to sit, eat, and enjoy.

That idea caught fire. 😉

Gonçalo once said that he wants this to be a place where his kids can run around and he doesn’t have to worry, where you can enjoy musicians up close and not 500 feet back with 50,000 other people watching a giant screen. And he wants a festival where the food is on par with the music and not an afterthought.

For a weekend every year, Chefs on Fire turns Cascais into a moving postcard of fire, food, and music.

It Takes A Village

It’s a massive behind the scenes endeavor to ultimately give people an intimate and care-free festival experience. I have to point out that the team he has put together is perhaps one of his biggest assets, as they’ve helped him bring all the events to life.

I think Gonçalo knows this too, and has given them the creative freedom to continue to make it into something better with each edition. It’s a lot of work planning throughout the year and even more executing and making sure things go smoothly.

I met so many members of the team throughout the event, and everyone is running their A-game. When I can catch them for a few minutes to share a bite or drink, I wonder how they are not exhausted.

That comes later. I’ll sleep for a week. And then start planning the next one.

While Gonçalo does the round and puts in the face time with everyone, quietly helping him make sure everything runs smoothly are his Chief of Operations, Sofia and PR Lead, Carla. Behind them is another indispensable team. Rain or shine.

And more that I haven’t met responsible for everything from the design of the beautiful website to even the aprons that the chefs wear. I want one too.

Something Different

It’s not enough for Gonçalo to just book the big names. He wants to showcase a side of their personality you might not see that their fancy restaurants, thriving and sweating in this wood-smoke chaos. Hair tousled from the heat taming the fire and plating dishes that could be served in a three-star dining room straight from an open-flame onto paper plates.

The details is everything here. From the way vintage couches and tree stumps are angled towards the stage so you catch the set while eating.

The antique bathtub filled with chopped food, the wood swings catching the late afternoon golden light, and the wire-frame bed that’s just begging you to throw your legs up for a few minutes.

My single favorite design element is the endlessly long communal tables cobbled together from different tops, and even doors. The seats are deliberately different and mismatched. A long string of light hangs overhead like at an outdoor caravan get together.

All just a part of the whole vibe and charm that makes up the visual part of Chefs on Fire.

It’s like being invited to a party Gonçalo and his friends have been throwing for years – and in a way, that’s what it is.

Even when it rains, everyone just comes together to make it work. And it’s all the more beautiful for it.

What To Expect At Chefs On Fire

I attended all three days of the 2023 edition of Chefs on Fire in Estoril and their 2024 pop-up event in Aveiro, with a deliberate effort to eat and photograph every dish. Some I had to go back for seconds. Let me start by telling you as someone who travels the world to eat, I can’t stress enough how incredible the food here was.

I left tipsy and stuffed and after the third day, I needed a full week of detox and lots of exercise.

Food

Despite all the big names, this is not a fine-dining experience. Think of it as being invited to a backyard bbq where a Michelin starred chef is just your buddy grilling something up and chatting with his friends while having a cold beer. Things are way more relaxed. No expeditor, no ‘pass,’ and no pressure. Maybe a little. And maybe a giant pig on a split being smoked.

All the dishes are served on paper plates or bowls, an egalitarian approach that puts no chef above another.

You can see the full line-up here, since it’s too long to list everyone, and a disservice to leave anyone off the list.

It’s all about the combinations here. Innovative takes on classic Portugal dishes and preparations balanced with global flavors and inspirations.

This year, there will be 15 chefs for each day doing meat, fish, vegetarian, and dessert courses. Alongside them will also be 20 curated restaurants and food partners showcasing their best dishes that were hand-picked by the team throughout the year.

So guests will have plenty of options to pick and choose their own tasting menu simply by following their nose, eyes, or the lines.

And if my count is correct, there will be at least 11 Michelin Stars represented at the event.

The best part is that you can get right up close to all the cooking action. But maybe not that close. This fire, smoke, and heat is real.

The setup for each chef is unique. There are make-shift grills, industrial sized blackstones, giant paella pans, medieval cauldrons, plenty of steel hooks all being put to use.

And at the center of it all is a massive dome frame where easily over a hundred kg of beef, pork, and game is hung to cook over a massive wood and coal pit. And it’s not just for show as chefs carefully navigate a schedule and share the space to bring their dishes to that perfect level of done. Also, not a lot of other places where you can hang and slow cook 50 chickens at a time?

Music

Starting in the afternoon and going late into the night, there’s usually 4 sets a day, each about 60 – 90 minutes long. Acts like Moullinex ∆ GPU Panic, that regularly sell out large venues with their innovative electronic dance set and light shows, perform right just a meter or so from the hay bale front row seats. You don’t have to fight for a view and the ‘back row’ is only about 10-15 meters away.

Like being able to get up close with the chefs cooking, you’re right there with the acts. I think the photos show just how close you’re able to get.

I appreciate the intimate and thoughtful aspects of Chefs On Fire so much, as I’m just over the crazy crowds at large festivals like Coachella and Lollapalooza, where I’d have fight for a spot hours ahead if I wanted to catch a headline act, and pay an ungodly amount for the most average food.

Don’t Worry About The Kids

After seeing so many families and kids on the first day, I strongly insisted that my friends, Spencer and Natalia, being only 15 minutes away in nearby Oeiras, should definitely come with the family. No need to find a babysitter.

There was a whole kids areas filled with activities and food, where they can let the kiddos go free. It was an unexpected break for them where we can have some adult time catching up over drinks.

When his daughter came back, we got her a popsicle and told her to run off and play.

Chefs On Fire Ticketing

You can buy individual days or a full 2 day pass.

The Full Pass (€200) gives you access to both days to the festival and the concerts and includes 15 tasting portion vouchers and 10 drinks vouchers.

There are three options for Single Day Entry:

The Fire/Combo (€85) gets you entry along with 5 tasting portions and 2 drinks.

The All In (€100) gets you entry along with 7 tasting portions and 4 drinks.

The FOMO (€50) for entry. Food and drinks can be purchased separately.

Tickets for Kids (6-12 years old) are €20 and includes mini tasting portions and drinks in the kids area.

My opinion? If you happen to be in Lisbon and want to experience Chefs On Fire for a day, get the €100 pass. After seeing the food choices, you’ll want the extra 2 portions and 2 drinks for the extra €15. If you are coming for the event specifically, go both days.

It’s such good value when you do the math. €200/25 = €8.00 for a food/drink voucher and you aren’t even factoring in the entry and concerts.

You can buy tickets directly from their page here. If you get your tickets before September 16, they also include a bonus Jameson Black Cocktail.

Final Thoughts

It’s easy to think of Chefs on Fire as just a food festival. But when you see chefs enjoying themselves and sending smiles from one fire pit to another, musicians coming off the stage and mingling in the crowd on a vintage armchairs, and endless conversations interrupted only by the cheers directed at the hero bringing more bottles of wine to the table, you know it’s something more.

It’s a gathering, and the kind where the host and his team wants you to leave full, happy, and smelling faintly of oak smoke.

Updated on August 21, 2025