Last updated: April 30, 2026
Our Story at Nina Brunch & Speciality Coffee in Lisbon
Nina Brunch Café opened in Parque das Nações, Lisbon in May 2025 — built by someone who spent years in tech startups and finally decided to do something about the kind of place that didn’t exist yet.
The Story
NINA is named after Dani’s mother. It is a tribute to the warmth and care with which she always welcomed guests. A message of appreciation to all the mothers in this world. And a statement of the values and atmosphere this restaurant is built to carry.
After years in tech — between engineering leadership at Microsoft and several startups — there came a point that called for something more human. A place where people actually sit down together and eat well.
Coming from Romania, where restaurant culture is properly developed, the brunch concept has evolved far beyond simple avocado toasts and traditional croissants — brunch became modern, close to fine dining but still casual. An experience that surprises, and consists of consistent menus designed to make you full at any time of the day. There was a gap that was hard to ignore: Lisbon had great cafés and great restaurants, but it missed this type of concept.
Nina opened in May 2025. By April 2026, it had 900+ Google reviews and more than 500 members in the loyalty programme.
The Team
Dani — Founder
Engineering leader turned startup founder turned restaurant owner — but without leaving any of these behind. Dani brought a decade of tech industry experience — product thinking, data-driven decisions, digital marketing built in from day one and augmented with cutting-edge AI systems — into a place that’s fundamentally about people sitting down together and eating well. Responsible for the technology, the growth strategy, the visual identity and branding, the website, and occasionally the washing up.
Angelo — Head Chef
Former chef at the Intercontinental Hotel. From the first conversation, the dynamic was immediate — Angelo could take a vision or an idea and translate it directly into a dish. He’s the person our customers mention by name in five-star reviews, and the reason the food at Nina punches well above the weight of some fine dining spots.
Irina — Design & Marketing
The reason Nina looks the way it looks. Irina leads the design direction and marketing campaigns, bringing her background at Google and tech startups to bear on the aesthetic coherence of everything the restaurant puts into the world. Regularly confusing the restaurant with her office and its number one social media follower.
The Philosophy
We didn’t open a brunch café to compete with anyone. We opened it because the brunch we wanted didn’t exist in Lisbon yet — at least not in Parque das Nações.
That meant taking the coffee seriously from the start. It meant searching for vendors who don’t hide shady ingredients in their labels and refusing to work with anyone who couldn’t prove their manufacturing process. We’re sourcing bread from an artisanal baker who ferments for 36 hours. We’re getting the burger meat proportioned exactly to our specifications, fresh.
It meant designing a menu that worked as well at 8am as at 2pm. And it meant treating every operational decision the way a product team would — what’s working, what isn’t, what do the numbers say, what do the reviews say, what changes.
No reservations. Walk in, find a table.
By the Numbers
- 4.9 ★ on Google
- 900+ reviews
- 519 loyalty card members
- Opened May 2025
Come and meet us!
Rua Cais das Naus 2B, Parque das Nações, Lisboa
Monday – Friday: 8h – 16h
Saturday – Sunday: 8h – 17h
