"Feijoada" - Lobster, Pork belly, Chorizo".
A menu inspired by Brazilian flavours? By an Austrian chef in Portugal?
The introduction took me by surprise. A good surprise, by the way.
I had made a point of not trying to find out anything beforehand about what I was going to eat. Which requires a certain amount of discipline when information stumbles in front of you at the turn of every scroll.
But I do my best to counter this paradox in the world of fine dining, where diners arrive having seen all the photos, videos and descriptions of the experience they're about to have and yet still want to be surprised…
Brazil actually follows on from "A Journey to India" (Setúbal, Cape Verde, Ghana, Mozambique, Goa), and "On the Route of the Islands" (Azores, Madeira and São Tomé), a recreation of the routes of discovery in search of flavours and influences that remain in Portuguese food today.
An exploration of the give and take of many years of exchanging products, techniques and cultural references.
"The next one will be Macau and Japan," says @hansneuner (who, despite having been in Portugal since 2007, always has that gift of being an outsider who can have another look at things).
The result is a blend of the exotic and the familiar, a reawakening of references and memories of quintessential dishes and ingredients (feijoada, pão de queijo, manioc, moqueca, barbecue, maminha,...), which serve as a starting point for something that is not intended to be literal, nor a reproduction of what already exists, but rather an spark for the creative process, never leaving out the good use of the Algarve's excellent produce along the way.
I left in a curious mood about the next menu. @restauranteocean Less