Review: The Palacete Severo, Porto, Portugal

The Palacete Severo has thrice been inspired by love.

Ricardo Severo, Portuguese polymath – architect, engineer, political Republican and writer — designed the Palacete Severo in 1902, as a home for his Brazilian wife Francisca. In the library’s wood panels their initials are intertwined.

Returning to Portugal from political exile in Brazil, the design of the Little Palace also paid homage to Severo’s love of his homeland’s architecture: azulejo tiles, carved wooden staircases, a loggia, black and white mosaic floors and ceiling frescoes. The Palacette Severo was a paean to Severo’s love of Portugal.

Now restored, renovated and revived, as a 20 room boutique 5* hotel, after decades of neglect, the Palacette Severo is loved once more. For new owner, Géraldine Banier, the Palacette is a satellite to her Parisian Gallery. Throughout the Palacette and the gardens, art is everywhere, featured in every room. Most of it for sale.

Above the tourist bustle of riverside Ribeiro, the Palacette Severo is a secluded sanctuary, exuding discrete luxury, at the heart of Porto’s creative neighbourhood of Cedofeita. It is an oasis of stillness.  Yet within walking distance of most of Porto’s charms. 

The welcome

As our taxi stops on the Rua de Ricardo Severo, a porter appears to take our cases along a walkway through ancient camellia trees, past roses still flowering in December. 

In our room, we are welcomed with a colourful selection of strawberries and petit fours, plus a brochure for the Palacete’s current art exhibition. 

The room

There is a sense of Severo’s optimism for Porto, as it entered the 20th century, in the high-ceilinged, oak floored rooms. A sturdy wicker headboard tops a wide bed dressed with high-thread count linens, creating a subtle feeling of understated grandeur. 

Off from the bedroom, a small vestibule serves as a study, with desk, for planning Porto explorations. Severo, who focused on details, would have approved of the contemporary touches of air-conditioning, coffeemaker and television with a host of international channels.  A further nine bedrooms are available in the extension. 

The bathroom

The marble-clad bathroom, with cosy underfloor heating, has a large shower cubicle amidst the mirrors and gleaming brass fittings. 

Reviving and refreshing toiletries, from the Portuguese brand 8950, bring aromas of fig, almond and fennel.

The facilities

Aspiring young chef, Tiago Bonito, creates menus for both the fine-dining Eon restaurant and the more casual Bistro creatively housed in an internal courtyard. 

Locals call in for lunch at the intimate Bistro, seating just 20, where a serpent-like S on an internal water feature represents Severo’s design legacy. 

Alongside the Bistro’s full menu, a menu of the day offers two or three courses. Soups are beyond superlatives, especially fish which decadently edges towards a lobster bisque. Whilst the fish of the day is accompanied by sautéed potatoes, seasonal vegetables and a white-wine butter sauce. 

Suckling lamb shoulder (for two) with oven baked sausages and sautéed greens is one possibly Bonito’s signature dish. Waiters are always on hand with appropriate wine suggestions.

More on Eon’s tasting menus later. They definitely belong in “best bit” territory.

Thelma runs the small spa in the new build, using her experience to soothe and relax clients, blending local balms and lotions with Olivier Claire products. Couples frequently book a treatment room designed for two.

Neighbouring the spa are a small gym, a Himalayan Salt room and a steam room. Outside is a heated saltwater pool with sumptuous sun loungers.

The location

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A ten minutes’ walk takes you to Boavista’s Praça Mouzinho de Albuquerque which is as much a park as it is a roundabout. From there you can take a City Sightseeing hop-on, hop off bus to explore all of Porto.

The Red Line heads out to surfers riding towering Atlantic rollers by the white sand beaches of Foz before following the Douro towards Riberia’s sloping and winding cobbled streets. 

There you can switch to the Blue Line, crossing the river to explore Gaia on the south side of the Douro, taking in a tasting at one of the port houses.

Crossing back to the North Bank the Red Line stops near the Urban Market for an extensive selection of stalls trading everything Portuguese from cork handbags through vintage olive oil to salted cod. Then head for the magnificent Belle Epoque ambience of the Majestic Cafe for coffee. Here the disillusioned of Porto met to discuss revolution and where, allegedly, J.K. Rowling wrote parts of Harry Potter. From here you can access yet more churches and museums. 

Other nice touches

Pedro, an inventive mixologist, scours the Palacette’s gardens for botanicals to give his cocktails a twist.

“I’ve had too many poor mojitoes. Now I replace sugar syrup with Granny Smith Apple puree and use ginger ale instead of soda water.”

The staff’s enthusiasm is infectious. Gabriel tells us about a Rabanada dessert treat – of stale bread fried with cinnamon, sugar and milk – that won’t be on the menu until after we have left Porto. 

Everywhere there are stories to be told. After my massage, Thelma brews a cup of floral tea and tells of the Englishman who grows Atlantic-spray watered flowers on Portugal’s north coast. 

The cost

Bed and breakfast begins from 300 euros per night. The nine-course tasting menu is currently 100 euros.

The best bit

More than a meal, more than dinner, the nine course tasting menu at Eon is an adventure. A culinary journey through memory, taste, time and Portugal. 

Aspiring young chef, Tiago Bonito, surely destined for Michelin recognition, seeks to rekindle the “essencia da portugalidade”. Eon’s tasting menu is made up of moments. 

In Bonito’s words, a meal should “despertar sentimentoes”, awaken feelings, evoking memory and place. Moments from Bonito’s childhood and travels are captured with creativity. A macaron of Portuguese cheese is topped with chestnut, the two hemispheres bound with chestnuts and Madeira wine.

A tiny ceviche prawn skewer rests over a mini-mini tumbler of warm jus, “Best downed in one,” advices our waiter. Bonito, in Blumenthal style, pushes the parameters. Could barnacles – forever wave-battered, forever ocean-washed – be the new oysters? 

Spending time learning his craft along the Algarve, Bonito has a love of seafood. Crab, hake, tuna and those barnacles all precede Portuguese Steer.  Supreme beef, patiently raised on a rugged pasture terroir is served with tender twice-cooked dolls-house-sized vegetables. 

The finale, of childhood memories, is spectacular. A nebula of cotton candy almost floating on a bonsai tree above popcorn, caramel and popcorn ice-cream, accompanied by sugary churros. 

The final verdict

When you’re warmly welcomed back home by the friendly staff to this architect’s dream house, luxuriously reimagined for the 21st century, the Palacette Severo feels more like a private family home than a hotel.

Disclosure: Our stay was sponsored by Palacete Severo. Our explorations of Porto were assisted by City Sight Seeing Porto and Visit Porto and North Travel.

Michael Edwards

Michael Edwards is a travel writer from Oxfordshire, UK. Although Michael had his first travel pieces published nearly four decades ago, he is still finding new luxury destinations to visit and write on.