The flavour of fado.
Three historic fado houses. One partner in Lisbon.
Fado&Food Group brings together Café Luso, Adega Machado and Clube de Fado — three houses with distinct identities in two of Lisbon’s best-known neighbourhoods. We work with travel professionals, groups, corporate clients, event organisers and production companies.
We work with partners who need to build fado into programmes, stays, groups and events in Lisbon. Our sales team helps you find the right house and the right format for each request, and handles requests for all three through a single point of contact.
All three are in the historic centre — two in Bairro Alto, two minutes’ walk from each other, and one in Alfama, beside the cathedral. What sets them apart, for anyone building a programme, is capacity, the type of room, and what can be taken on private hire, in part or in full.
| Café Luso | Adega Machado | Clube de Fado | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Neighbourhood | Bairro Alto | Bairro Alto | Alfama |
| Since | 1927 | 1937 | 1995 |
| Profile / best suited to | Large groups and a spacious room | Flexible spaces and experiences | An intimate format, in Alfama |
| Dining rooms | 160 seats | 100 seats | Fado Maior, 80 seats · Fado Menor, 50 seats |
| Private room | 25 seats | 35 seats | — |
| Terrace | — | 25 seats | — |
| Total capacity | 185 seats | 160 seats | 130 seats |
| Groups from | 15 people | 15 people | 10 people |
| Opening hours | every night, from 19:00 to 01:00; fado from 20:15 | every night, from 19:00 to 01:00; fado from 20:30 | every night, from 19:30 to 01:00; fado from 20:30 |
| Private hire | Private room, or the whole house. | Private room, terrace, or the whole house. | Either of the two rooms, or the whole house. |
Bairro Alto · Since 1927
The largest of the three and the one best suited to a long table, in the old cellars of a Bairro Alto palace.
It opened in 1927 on Avenida da Liberdade and moved in 1941 to the old wine cellars of the Brito Freire Palace, in Bairro Alto, where it remains. It is the oldest of the three houses in the group, and the history is in the building: a room whose acoustics need no amplification, and the name Lisbon gave it — the “Cathedral of Fado”. Traditional Portuguese cooking, built on recipes that never go out of fashion.
Bairro Alto · Since 1937
The most versatile in its spaces — three floors, a private room and a terrace.
A Bairro Alto house since 1937, and the proof that the fado tradition is anything but static: the same house it has always been, and the one that adapts most readily to what is asked of it — three floors, a private room and an outdoor terrace. Fado every night, and a kitchen that treats Portuguese tradition with the respect of those who have known it from the start.
Alfama · Since 1995
The most intimate, in Alfama, with two dining rooms that can be hired separately.
In Alfama, beside the cathedral, in a building more than three hundred years old, with stone arches separating the two rooms: Fado Maior and Fado Menor. Founded in 1995 by the guitarist Mário Pacheco, it is a club in the proper sense of the word — the house where the great names of fado cross paths and come to sing. Its Portuguese cooking has a character of its own, and the fado is sung right beside the tables, the way Alfama sings it.
Café Luso and Adega Machado are a lane apart, in Bairro Alto. For a large group, that closeness does not mean a group split for lack of room — it is one programme on two stages, on foot, on the same night.
What one house cannot accommodate, another can — and the same team handles all three.
Three houses, different spaces and one central team to build whatever the briefing calls for. Tell us what you need and we will tell you which house it fits in.
Four steps, with one dedicated contact from beginning to end.
The main programme is the one we run every night, in all three houses: dinner served at the table and live fado. These three formats cover needs that the standard evening programme cannot: fado outside night-time hours, fado at the table of a wine tasting, and popular fado as a night of celebration. They are arranged on request, as a private booking or a scheduled slot, and any of them can be held in any of the three houses.
Daytime fado, to slot into a programme in Lisbon.
It lets you bring fado into a cultural itinerary without having to rely on the evening slot — for groups dining elsewhere, for daytime tours, or for those leaving the same day.
Format, availability and terms on request.
Portuguese wine and live fado in a participatory format for groups and events.
A tasting that brings Portuguese wine regions together with live fado at the same table, built for cultural programmes, incentives and corporate events.
Format, availability and terms on request.
Live fado and popular music, built as a night of celebration.
A platform of the group’s own, launched at Adega Machado over a run of Tuesday nights and available to programme in any of the three houses, at any time of year. Popular fado, desgarrada and live music with dinner at the same table — the purpose is to give fado back to the party.
Format, availability and terms on request.
What we can email today to someone building a programme. The rest of the sales material — fact sheets by house, capacities room by room, floor plans — is sent on request.
Café Luso opened in 1927, Adega Machado in 1937 and Clube de Fado in 1995 — three houses with histories of their own. All three are directly operated by Fado&Food Group.
When someone stands up to sing, the room falls silent and the service stops. Fado happens between the tables, with Portuguese guitar, viola de fado and voice. Each house keeps its own identity — and the Group helps you pick the right one for each client, group or event.
FIT, group, event or special experience: send us the briefing and the Fado&Food Group team answers through a single point of contact for all three houses.
In your email, give us the company, the date, how many people and the type of request — group, event, series or experience. We normally reply the same day or the next.
