Once upon a time, it was the Dom Pepe restaurant, right on the waterfront with a direct view of Parede Beach. It also used to be Escama, specialising in fish and seafood, but since August it's been Liberty: food, coffee & wine, with a focus on brunch. It's the younger sibling of a place that opened in Santos, Lisbon, in December 2022.
The project is owned by three Russian partners: husband and wife Anna Aleshkovskaia and Yuriy Gushchin and their friend Nikita Pirogov. All three left Russia a few years ago. “We felt that politically we were always in opposition,” Anna tells Time Out. “We were unwanted for political reasons; there was always a lot of pressure and censorship.”
She was a film producer, while her husband, Yuriy, is a cryptocurrency investor. After leaving Russia eight years ago, they lived in Spain and Germany. “We were in the dreary Berlin winter and needed some sun, so we came here – we'd been to Portugal as tourists and fell in love. When the war with Ukraine started, my mother also came and we were very happy.”
It was in Portugal, through friends in the Russian community, that they met Nikita Pirogov, who had experience in the field and was responsible for the coffee shop chain The Folks, which currently has five locations in Lisbon, although they are no longer under the same ownership.
Anna Aleshkovskaia explains that the idea to create Liberty came from the cultural sector. “I've always dreamed of having a bookshop, and we combined it with the concept of the café in Santos.” In the capital, they sell books and organise literary meetings, debates, masterclasses and film screenings. “In Parede, we don't have space for a bookstore with a cultural programme, but people can buy books online and pick them up here. And we brought the café part with us.”
They were on the lookout for a place in Cascais for some time, until they stumbled upon this location, in a prime area of the Linha. Although they don't have a brunch menu, they serve a variety of options that can be enjoyed for breakfast, lunch or a snack. They offer unique dishes that bring their Russian roots to the menu — they work with several chefs and staff from Eastern Europe.
For example, they serve buckwheat porridge with butter, black pepper, parmesan, red caviar, poached egg and parsley (€12). You can also try Roast Beef Benedict (€12.50) or Salmon Benedict (€16), Avocado Toast (€8) or the Hash Browns (€11), grated and fried potatoes with cream cheese, salmon, cucumber, radish, dill, coriander and parsley. The menu also includes toasts, omelettes and salads.
One of the Russian specialities in the dessert category is syrniki (€11): cottage cheese pancakes that can be served with ripe plums with agave syrup, mascarpone cream and lime zest; or with cherry compote with rum, yoghurt and special Puchero dark chocolate. As well as coffee and wine, they sell juices, craft beers and their signature drinks, such as lavender lemonade (€3.50) or grapefruit paloma (€5). They are planning to offer dinner menus soon and would like to open more locations in the region. “We have been looking for a shop in the centre of Cascais. It has been difficult, but we would love it.”
Rua Sampaio Bruno, 4A, Parede