Porto, PORTUGAL — At the end of your dinner at Euskalduna Studio, if you tell the chefs that they deserve two Michelin stars, they will tell you that they are satisfied with just the one.

That’s not them being modest, unambitious or content to rest on their laurels.

It’s them knowing that attaining that higher status would come at a cost. It would mean changing what they do, which is deliver beautiful, on-point food in an unexpectedly relaxed manner with charm, humor, and outright personality.

During a recent two-week trip to Portugal, where I ate at many restaurants, the one at Euskalduna Studio stood out as one of my favorites.

Chef Vasco Coelho Santos opened Euskalduna Studio a decade ago on a narrow, cobblestone street. Having worked at such legendary establishments in Spain as Mugaritz, Arzak, and El Bulli, he named his restaurant after the Basque word for — what else — “Basque.”

Peering in the front window, you get your first inkling that this place may take its food seriously, but not so the rest of the usual fine-dining trappings. Not when figurines of Homer Simpson and Remy from “Ratatouille” are arranged prominently alongside the Michelin Man.

Save for two tables in the dining room, the main seating is at a counter that fronts the open kitchen. It is at one of those 10 seats that you want to perch yourself for an up-close look at all the cooking, plus the ability to interact with the chefs who are more than happy to converse.

When I asked one chef whether he minded if I took photos, he deadpanned, “Of course not. But we are not a very good looking bunch.”

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