Portugal. Haute – cuisine paradise.

Delicious news.
Portugal Restaurant Week has officially started, meaning there is an opportunity to indulge in tasting Chef created menus only for €20 in top rated gourmet restaurants!

For the first time, the Restaurant Week is happening in the entire country.
From 14 to 24 March, 151 restaurants in 14 districts offer these unique opportunity
Lisbon, Porto, Cascais and Loulé are the most famous for their own Restaurant Weeks, and now participating in this global party, big celebration of national gem, gastronomic traditions!

And now its the districts of Aveiro, Braga, Bragança, Castelo Branco, Coimbra, Evora, Faro, Guarda, Leiria, Lisbon, Oporto, Setúbal, Vila Real, Viseu and many more that are competing to be most delightful gourmet traveller destination

Each participant is a star indeed.. Difficult to choose the Best. And desire is actually to taste as much as possible!

Now. Book the tables!

Enjoy. Only in Portugal

Alentejo. Portugal. Discover a new world of tastes..

The Alentejo, a true paradise between beaches and plains, offers us an open landscape in which the cork and oak trees play a decisive part in conveying the tranquility, the warmth and the extension of one the Portuguese regions best known for its imaginative gastronomy.
In the north, we can discover Portalegre and the Serra de São Mamede, whose climate, colder and moister that in the rest ofAlentejo, provides great quality wines.
The cattle rasing and the products we can get from it, like cheese, are also worthy of a delicate tasting.
Next we have Borba, Estremoz, the Redondo, in plain Serra d’Ossa and then Évora. Wine production is tradition in any one of these cities. You can visit the many wine makers and discover this region’s enourmous amount of great quality restaurants.

On the south, in Baixo Alentejo, you can take a trip to Moura and visit the Olive Oil Museum. It is also here that great quality honey is produced.
In the Alentejo, you can also feel the scents of the fields and the rich flavors of aromatic herbs. From oregano to rosemary, the spices fill the cooking with perfume, granting them that special alentejo’s touch. The coriander gives name to Cação de Coentrada (a fish dish made with a lot of coriander), a worthy of mention typical dish that can be eaten as soup ou accompanied by boiled potatos and slices of toasted bread.

The porco alentejano (alentejo’s pig) lives the fields of cork and oak trees with the perfect conditions for a healthy growing and an oak nut-based feeding. The ham from the porco alentejano is a good example of this product’s quality, with its exquisite flavor and aroma.



The Migas à Alentejana with pork are one of the most known dishes of this region’s gastronomy. The bread is a key ingredient of this gastronomy, either by itself or used in an assortment of recipes.
The monasterial sweet making of Alentejo, predominant in eggs and gila (a variety of pumpkin jelly), is a symbol of the region. Also a part of the best tradional recipes of alentejo is the Encharcada do Convento de Santa Clara (Évora) - a regional dessert made with cinnamon and eggs. The Fidalgo and the Sericaia, either with or without rainhas Cláudia (a kind of plums) are fine representatives of the best monasterial sweet making.

To end the journey, you can take a peek to the shores of the Alqueva, the biggest artificial dam in Europa, where all these golden tones blend themselves with the blue colours of the Guadiana river.

by taste-portugal.com

Discover. Indulge yourself. You worth it. Great Portuguese wines, must try.

Capturing world of great Portuguese wines.. So different. Takes tame to discover, taste and choose the favourite ones.. Sun and beach time or chilly autumn, great celebration or romantic evening or a big dinner  - there are plenty of options in Douro Valley list. Indulge.   

Reds

2007 Quinta do Vallado Douro, $37
Quinta do Vallado produces generous Douro reds, albeit with plenty of perfume and dark, tannic grip. Vallado Douro is a blend of touriga nacional, touriga franca, tinta barroca, tinta roriz and sousão from mostly younger vines. There is trademark Douro ink and floral lift, with a plummy mid-palate and a long, pippy finish.

2007 Quinta do Crasto Reserva douro, $78 
Quinta do Crasto excels with tinta roriz where it forms the basis of its regular and reserve blends, as well as single-varietal bottlings in good years. This is a very big wine by Douro standards, lavishly oaked with lush fruit showing coffee, cinnamon, tar and licorice. There’s some trademark Douro minerality poking through and classy, grippy tannins. One for the cellar.  

2007 Quinta do Vale MeÃo Meandro douro, $49 
Meão’s wines combine textural precision, freshness and generosity from their upper Douro fruit, well reflected in the 2007 Meandro (the name comes from the meandering river that almost encircles the property). A combination of touriga nacional, tinto roriz and touriga franca, this is a medium-bodied wine packed with bright red berries and spicy black fruit. There are flavours of anise, violets and smoked meats.

2007 Quinta do Vale MeÃo Douro, $185
60 per cent touriga nacional, 20 per cent touriga franca, 15 per cent tinta roriz, 5 per cent tinta barroca. Based on these tastings, Meão’s Douro stands alongside Dirk Niepoort’s brace of wines as the benchmark for modern Douro reds. The wine shows a mix of briar, vanilla pod, Asian spices and minerality. The texture is detailed and layered, from low-bass to high-treble notes – tannins and acid in balance, with a satiny sheen.

2007 Niepoort Redoma tinto, $115
All the hallmarks of Niepoort’s fastidious approach to viticulture and winemaking are here. The wine is fine-boned and linear, the structure supporting wild, rustic, dark-berry flavours with mid-palate generosity and a lively, long finish. Savage and restrained at the same time.

Ports
Quinta do Vallado 10 Year Old Tawny port, $75
A fresh and spirity tawny. Light brown colour with notes of spearmint, licorice and cola. Good levels of acidity balance the praline-like sweetness. There is still plenty of primary fruit here. The finish is fresh with a lingering nuttiness.

2007 Niepoort Vintage Port, A$200
A deep purple colour, as is typical of Vintage Ports in their infancy. Despite its youth, it shows freshness and a floral lift with time in the glass. There are notes of menthol, wild herbs, flowers, with a touch of spirit and raisin. The tannin and acid balance is excellent. Great finesse.

2007 Quinta do Vale Meão Vintage Port, $130 
Less restrained than the Niepoort, with velvety exuberance and generosity. There is plenty of acid and freshness to give direction to the burst of fresh fruit. Plummy and layered, with touches of chocolate, violets, anise, bergamot and cloves. Ripe tannins and a long, silky finish. Highly recommended.

by gourmettraveller.com

Gastronomia Portuguesa.

Vinho e gastronomia de mãos dadas

 by Revista EPICUR

Os nomes da quinta e do restaurante encontram-se na adega  na cozinha, dão-se as mãos à esa, para momentos de fruição  promessa de prazeres futuros. A concepção dos pratos de cada enu e  sua conjugação hão-de ser pistas para casamentos uturos, lá em casa (por que não?), entre uma asca disto ou aquilo e uma flute daquela colheita, um tinto de boa casta.

Que a concepção da casa obedeceu à intenção de divulgar a culinária regional, privilegiando o leitão, adivinha-se desde logo pela integração, de raiz, na própria memória descritiva do projecto, de um forno destinado à assadura do réquinho. E as referências nas redes sociais ainda atribuem ao local as virtudes todas desse brinco – o forno contempla a utilização das vides retiradas na limpeza das vinhas.

A verdade é que o leitão à Bairrada já não figura na ementa. Hoje, o cardápio está organizado por menus, desde logo o que responde por Grande Encontro. Aí se contempla um camarão fumado, salva e tártaro de cenoura e courgette, a que se liga, na proposta, o espumante Cabriz Dão

Touriga Nacional rosé Bruto 2006. Já para a truta assada com figo e damascos, puré de grão-de-bico e salsa frisada é sugerido o Encontro 1 Bairrada branco 201.

Nas carnes, o lombinho de borrego grelhado, esparregado de grelos e macaxeira frita, vem com um Grande Encontro Bairrada tinto 2008. Por fim, aos doces, a Quinta das Tecedeira comparece num Porto Vintage 2007, a enfrentar um enrolado de ovos- -moles, seu gelado e salada de fruta fresca. Já o Menu Preto Branco arranca com atum marinado com funcho, vinagrete de toranja e canónigos, assessorado por espumante Cabriz Dão Encruzado Bruto 2007; chamuça de enchidos serranos, salada de ananás dos Açores, creme de coco e azeite de coentros, em que os copos acolhem um Quinta de Lourosa Regional Minho Alvarinho – Arinto 2011; segue-se terrina de porco bísaro, chips de batata-doce e rúcula, mais o Preto Branco Bairrada Reserva tinto 2009; pudim de cenoura, chocolate negro e caruma de camelo, embalado pela Quinta das Tecedeiras Porto LBV 2009, completam o quadro.

Vamos ao Menu Bical, casta acarinhada nos brancos bairradinos: tempura de legumes, creme de queijo da Serra da Estrela e zimbro, mais espumante Quinta do Encontro Bairrada Bruto 2008; centro de bacalhau frito, arroz de tomate assado e hortelã da ribeira, com um QdoE Bairrada Bical 2011; creme queimado de espumante Quinta do Encontro, acolitado de Conde de Sabugal Douro Moscatel 2009. E lá vão 24 euros. Agora o Menu Encontro, nos seus 17 euros. Abre com um creme de abóbora, espuma de camarão e cebolinho, com espumante QdoE bruto, seguido de um caldo de cogumelos, osso-buco estufado e estaladiças de legumes, regado a QdoE Bairrada tinto 2009. À sobremesa comparece o soufflé de lima, gelado de nata e hortelã, mais o Conde de Sabugal Douro Moscatel 2009.

As perspectivas de visita e convívio familiares obrigam a menus de criança, sob a forma de bife do lombo com creme de manteiga ou massa com cogumelos, queijo e bacon. Bastam 12,5 euros para esta experiência abstémia. O visitante não fica, no entanto, obrigado, a consumir um menu. Os pratos já referidos estão disponíveis, cada um por si. E os vinhos, claro, à escolha. Pela prova, é uma grande experiência. O chefe de cozinha está à altura, sem arrebiques de descrição. Cada preparação culinária, numa refeição destas, há-de servir o vinho que a convoca. Gostámos e aplaudimos.