Blessed are those who open affordable restaurants that serve delicious food, for they bring joy to the world. Diogo and Tiago de Jesus, two brothers born into a family of restaurateurs, opened a pizzeria in Rua da Guiné, a quiet street near the busling Almirante Reis Avenue. Tong in cheek, they called it Jezzus.

Inside the small restaurant, a dedicated team of cooks fires up mouthwatering Napolitan-style pizzas in an Italian oven fitted with a volcanic stone from Mount Vesuvius. The menu offers a mix of classics, like the timeless Margherita, and inventive creations inspired by Portuguese cuisine. These nouvelle pizzas include “Bulhão Pato,” which tastes like the namesake clam sauce, “Oh Pear,” featuring Rocha pears, and “Oh Diabo!,” adorned with slices of sinnfully spicy Portuguese sausage. 

The five-cheese pizza adds to the traditional parmesan a tetrad of Portuguese cheeses: blue cheese from Azeitão, a rare velvet cheese made from the milk of serpentine goats, and “grande do viso,” a cow milk cheese with a rind washed in red wine. Our favorite pizza is Holly Sardine, made with immaculate marinated sardines from the Algarve.

While you wait for your pizza to cook, you can feast on a plate of savory black pork sausages or try the luscious artisanal burrata with tomato confit and basil pesto.

The exceptional quality of the ingredients, sourced from small, local producers, stands out. The pizzaria buys its flour from Paulino Horta, an artisanal miller. They ferment the dough from 47 to 72 hours using sourdough yeast, resulting in a light, easily digestible crust.

Diogo and Tiago say that making pizzas as good as theirs at home would be a miracle. We wholeheartedly agree.

Jezzus is located at Rua da Guiné, 1A, Lisboa, tel. 21-814-2186.