Innovation

WITH A CURIOSITY FOR HONEST EATING, THINKING AND DRINKING, THE ALGARVE’S NEWEST FARM-TO-TABLE RESTAURANT, NESTLED ON THE EDGE OF THE PINE FORESTS OF ALMANCIL ON THE CUSP OF QUINTA DO LAGO, IS AUSTA, THE BRAINCHILD OF EMMA AND DAVID CAMPUS

Words: JOANA COSTA

AT AUSTA, Emma and David – two young Londoners who moved to Portugal at the start of the pandemic – seek to provide a platform for the small and independent farmers and producers through plates of ingredients sourced from projects that they feel proud of.

Arriving in the Algarve in March 2020, Emma and David decided to travel through Portugal to get to know the heart of their new destination. Unsure of where they would end up, they set to exploring the country through their own personal interests – food, wine and design – cultivating connections with culinary and creative communities along the way. It is the stories, knowledge and passion that they gathered from these people and places that would eventually contribute to the inspiration for their new venture.

The couple were drawn back to the Algarve when an opportunity presented itself in the form of a space within Emma’s family’s newlyestablished design store, Dunas Living; their ideas and energy snowballed into austa which, over almost three years, came to life in August.

“We wanted to address what we felt was an unmet need in the market for a restaurant that is led by the provenance,” says Emma. Austa’s considered yet dynamic selection of sharing plates regularly changes with their suppliers’ crops; they make a concerted effort to work with small independents that are organic and use sustainable farmings methods. “Each dish, including the plate it appears on and the table it’s eaten off, has a story to tell about the cultural tapestry of their region. We hope that austa can act as a physical and metaphorical gateway for others to discover more about the roots of the Algarve and other parts of Portugal beyond sun, sand and sea,” says David.

Building a team

To help them work towards their goals, Emma and David needed to find a chef who was as invested in the idea as they were, and Portuguese chef, farmer, fisherman and forager David Barata was the candidate for the job. With experience predominantly in the fine-dining world (working in Michelin-starred kitchens, Feitoria, Eleven and Ceia in Lisbon and Bon Bon here in the Algarve), David took on the role at austa to explore more down-to-earth dining while retaining a deeply-rooted connection with ingredients.

“When he’s not in the kitchen, chef is usually found fishing off the beach or out on his boat on the ocean. We always said we wanted good and honest food, but without him, we wouldn’t have been able to do it. He is totally obsessed with the provenance of ingredients and the care that goes into their production,” says David who, with a family history in hospitality and his own avid obsession with food, is excited about the discoveries they have been making together.

Food for thought

The fruits of those discoveries begins at 9.30 for breakfast at austa –farm-led fare such as homemade jams of austa garden produce served with buttery, flakey croissants from a small selection of specialist local bakeries, including soft and crunchy sourdough bread from Essência in Loulé. Farm-fresh organic eggs come with roasted pumpkin from an organic farm in Alvor run by three generations of women, while fermented goats’ yoghurt is made by chef and served with steeped figs and home-made peanut granola. The speciality coffee is roasted by Bean17 in Loulé, and there’s a rotating freshly-squeezed juice (watermelon and apple were picked most recently from the garden).

By lunchtime, there’s a switch to sharing plates; wild boar croquettes and small plates like cured amberjack with tomato dashi and smoked mussels in a ‘pet-nat’ beurre blanc, carrots and ginger are followed by larger dishes – a caramelly, tender octopus (from the octopus capital in Portugal, Santa Luzia) sat atop its creamy pink ‘pil pil’. There’s a rotating daily sourdough sandwich for those seeking a quick solo bite, sloshed down with a glass of ‘lowintervention’ wine (perhaps a glass of ‘palhete’ from Algarvian producer Morgado do Quintão).

“We felt that something as simple as grabbing a sandwich for lunch should still be carefully thought through to ensure that even that casual moment is the best it can be,” says David.

“We love the idea of a dynamic service where people can pop in for a quick bite on their own or stay longer with friends – it’s that flexibility that makes the places we love feel buzzy and relaxed.”

At dinner, plates become slightly more refined and – moving into autumn – the first wild foraged mushrooms from Viseu are paired with a burnt buttter hollandaise. Velvety brill, line caught off the coast of Sagres, is light yet warming and, eager to source the best meat productions, austa looks to the Algarve, Alentejo and Andalusia for succulent lamb and pork. For veggies and vegans, a grilled fermented cabbage with massa pimentão and chickpea, and an utterly umami alternative to Algarvian Xérem uses seaweed and algaes from a small producer on the Ria Formosa in place of clams or cockles. Dessert features mainland Portugal’s only organic bananas from Pechão, with miso toffee and carob crunch, as well as a new addition – fermented blueberries with frozen goats cheese mousse and shiso leaves.

Tales through tipples

The storytelling continues into the tipples as David – austa’s self-appointed ‘sommelier’ – has curated a wine list that brings together bottles from small winemakers across Portugal and neighbouring Andalusia who work with interesting, low intervention, organic and often natural wine making methods.

To source the list, David explored vineyards, once abandoned but now revived, in Aljezur; opened talha at traditional festivals in Vila Alva; witnessed horse drawn ploughs in the Serra da Estrela; discovered deep roots and resilient vines in Colares.

Particularly during the pandemic, when wine tourism faced challenges, he had the opportunity to engage in in-depth and personal experiences with both the traditionalists who upheld time-honoured practices, and the pioneering visionaries within the Portuguese wine making and wine-drinking community.

“I was keen to bring these distinctive, artisanal, and minimally processed wines to our area as, though many have profiles in restaurants that we would consider our peers in Lisbon and Porto, they are somewhat under-represented here in our part of Portugal. It means we can offer a unique wine drinking experience to those who are seeking something different.”

David consistently keeps a wide variety of bottles accessible for tasting by the glass as well as a number of ‘off-list’ exclusive and ‘dusty’ bottles.

For after dinner, digestives appear – a small selection of sherries, a fortified wine almost absent in the Algarve despite Jerez being closer to the Algarve than Porto’s port houses.

Austa has also collaborated with Companhia Portugueza do Chá to blend tea leaves from the Azores Islands with Algarvian pine, Adega Velha brandy, almond and walnut. Other cocktails and cordials are also batched in house and aligned with the seasons, often crafted with ingredients from the garden – the red pepper cocktail is made with one of the only Vodka’s not to be made in Eastern Europe, from a small organic producer near Granada.

A situational space

The cosy restaurant is set amongst Dunas Living’s beautiful Mediterranean gardens, designed by Emma’s mother Judy along with local landscapers, Bloom, planted to use minimal water and to blend seamlessly with the Algarve’s climate.

Along with their team, Emma and David spent time learning about sustainable gardening, seeding and caring for their own onsite organic vegetable garden. Now abundant with crops for the kitchen, they pick things daily for the small and evolving menu.

Inside, much like their approach to food, Emma and David wanted to place importance on crafting an interior space with an ambiance that reflected the essence of their location. To bring their vision to life, they collaborated with Studio Gameiro, an innovative architecture studio based in Lisbon that specialises in exploring the relationships between traditional artisanship and sustainable design. Together, they dove deep into the fabric of the Algarve’s rich heritage, local materials, regional traditions, patterns and craft to pull together bespoke solutions for the interiors, lighting design, furniture design and architecture at austa.

“We started with a soft lime stucco on the wall that acts as a clay-like canvas, before collaborating with skilled craftsmen who helped us draw intriguing details into the space,” says Emma. Studio Gameiro designed a sculptural copper lamp installation that sits above bespoke wooden tables in the restaurant, made by artisans in Loulé whose ancestral techniques date back to 400AD in the Algarve.

Copper appears, too, in a modular shelving system, reminiscent of Portuguese washing lines, for austa’s ‘mercearia’, a grocery store where Emma curates a mix of ceramics, cookbooks and kitchen related objects – perfect gifts for dinner parties.

Soon this selection will include preserves, conserves and jams from the kitchen, hopefully in time for Christmas hampers with a difference.

The ‘counter point’ of the space, which has already drawn in design enthusiasts, is a 230 million-year-old ‘salt bench’, made up of almost 400 rock salt bricks sourced from Loulé’s Mina do Sal and placed by hand in a geometric form. “We designed the pattern to mimic another ancient Portuguese tradition, the Santa Catarina tile workshops, where clay tiles are stacked perpendicularly in the kilns so that the heat can distribute equally across them as they are fired,” says João Gameiro.

Local storytelling is infused through platewear, too. “When we moved to Portugal, we always visited potters and their studios when we travelled. This allowed us to understand a part of Portugal’s rich tradition, and to meet new creators who were continuing an important part of the country’s heritage,” says Emma, highlighting bowls by Madalena Telo, a talented young ceramicist in Monchique who learnt techniques from her father.

A deeper discovery

Emma and David are happy to share contacts and to suggest itineraries for visiting the people and producers who have now become their friends, perhaps with the hope that they can encourage a sharing of knowledge and similar discovery. And they will continue to cultivate a community that goes beyond the dining. And while they may coin the concept for austa as ‘farm-to-table’, it really goes much further than that.

Austa

Rua Cristóvão Pires Norte, Almancil Reservations Whatsapp +351 965 896 278 / eat@asta.pt

Open for breakfast from 09:30, lunch from 13.00, Tuesday to Saturday. Dinner is on Friday and Saturday evenings from 19:00. Throughout the winter, and beyond, austa will host guest chef pop-ups, four hands menus and events. Keep an eye on their instagram for updates (@austa_resta)