Marlene, who was born in Porto, felt that she belonged in the capital "because it has always been a multicultural city, ready to open up to the world and welcome everyone", she admitted. This from someone who lived in Manhattan for a while, and was a teacher and judge in the Chefs Academy competition on Portuguese television. She currently runs three different restaurants, a food corner in the Timeout market, Zunzum Gastrobar and the latest, her gastronomic restaurant Marlene.

Marlene is very close to the cruise terminal and I see it as a window to the world. But I am Portuguese and I have my feet in Portugal, so I absorb outside influences, but I always start from my native tradition,' she argued. And to visually explain her work, she prepared a pickled blue whiting with pickled carrots and beetroot, bathed in a clarified broth from the fried fish. The second proposal was a personal reinterpretation of the traditional octopus feijoada, "which, if you close your eyes, you can see its taste perfectly". To do this, after stewing the white beans and cuttlefish, he made a broth and used the rest to make the puree that forms the base of the dish. He then received the cuttlefish, cooked and cut into cannelloni shapes, and bathed them in the clarified broth, which contained all the flavours.

João Sá, for his part, explained that the best argument for his presentation on Lisbon was love, "love for my partner, love for gastronomy and love for a city of light and a mix of cultures". With parents born in Angola, he doesn't have a Portuguese tradition, 'we didn't eat feijoada, we ate moamba, a chicken stew with palm oil', so his cuisine is more reminiscent of the style of the Alfama, 'an eclectic and very personal neighbourhood'. Recently awarded its first Michelin star, Sála's is a travelling cuisine, guided by a city that is always open to the world. We saw this in the original green couscous he prepared, 'a dish from the Trás-os-Montes area that the Jewish community learned during the Arab occupation', made with a grain paste larger than semolina, cooked with garlic and coriander, bathed in razor tips, codium, Moroccan lemon and a garum they make in a neighbouring restaurant.