food on the move

WE ’ RE NOT TALKING FAST FOOD HERE, BUT RATHER TASTY PLACES YOU HAVE TO PUT ON YOUR TRAVEL MENU, ESPECIALLY NOW WHEN THE EARLY AUTUMN MONTHS ARE PERFECT FOR NEW JOURNEYS OF DISCOVERY

Words: CLAUDIA DE SOUZA

THE SUMMER holidays may be over but the urge to travel will continue to be satisfied by visiting places that give us the feeling of escaping to different destinations without getting on a plane.

One of the best feelings in the world is to land in a foreign country and, before getting to the monuments and museums, begin to discover it through local aromas and flavours.

Food is culture, as we all know... but what if we do it the other way round? Staying in our homeland and visiting new places in favourite cities (in this case, Lisbon and Cascais) and choosing where to have a meal or to buy sweet somethings that make us feel that we just took a quick flight to another destination. Join us on a carefully planned journey of handpicked eateries that each offer something very different.

TROPICAL Sítio Valverde

Hotel Valverde has always been an oasis in the middle of Lisbon’s busy Avenida da Liberdade and its restaurant, Sítio, an oasis with a plus: good, honest, comfort food.

Even in the cold season – seated outside, surrounded by all the lush vegetation, it is incredible how soon we forget the city traffic just a few metres away.

The news is this tropical urban retreat has a new chef: the perfect excuse (if any is needed) to go again ant try some of the delicious new dishes created by Bruno Oliveira.

Inspired by his roots in Angola as well as the freedom and closeness to nature of having grown near the beach – Costa da Caparica – Bruno favours true flavours and simplicity. Homemade food cooked with technique and beautifully presented. Some of the options even have that tropical touch, like the vegetable curry. The soups (the tomato cream is a dream for the palate!) are a good idea all year round, especially for lunch after a morning of serious shopping in the best stores of the capital.

Before leaving all this gentle greenery, a dessert: they change with the seasons but the rhubarb and strawberry fraisier is as good to the tastebuds as it is appealing to the eye!

Avenida da Liberdade, 164, Lisboa

T: 210 940 300 valverdehotel.com/restaurante

JUNGLE Animal

Next to the pool (the restautant is inside the funky hotel Hotel Hotel), a neon sign warns the visitors: “animals sleep/eat here”.

Well, not really. But the jungle atmosphere takes you on a relaxed journey far away from the centre of Lisbon.

What returns you to the capital is the friendliness of the staff who welcome anyone who comes for a meal or to any of the other facilities of the hotel that include a yoga room and a tatoo studio.

Lunch at Animal turns into a delicious trip around many different influences: the asian beef carpaccio or the wild broccoli are a good start before the lentil ragu or entrecote with mushrooms and pineapple.

Chef Pedro Ferreira Mendes always has vegetarian options and there are also some good sushi alternatives. In the dessert department, the matcha parfait is a just perfect.

When in doubt, feel free to chat to any member of the staff and ask for advice. This is an inclusive hotel/restaurant where you sense people feel happy working and that, as we all know, is something of a rarity nowadays. Also priceless is the location: not exactly on Avenida da Liberdade but in one small street that leads to it. Being transported to a jungle destination one minute away from Lisbon’s main avenue? That, for most of us, is the true meaning of luxury!

Animal Travessa da Glória, 22, Lisboa T: 211 164 120 restauranteanimal.com

NORDIC Dear Breakfast Santos

Brunch is a concept Portugal imported from northern European countries. And rightly so. The right offering in the right place is the way to start the day’s adventure.

We can no longer imagine our lives without the possibility of going to aesthetically beautiful places like the new Dear Breakfast in Santos, where you start your meal by enjoying the comfort of a place that feels like an improved version of home.

An old grocery shop was transformed in a café that adopted the simple lines of Nordic design. The kind of place that would be perfectly suited to cities like Oslo, Compenhagen or Helsinki but, fortunately for us, is in Lisbon.

The undoubted stars of the menu are the eggs. You can have them cooked in all the traditional ways (scrambled, Benedict, omelette, etc) but the turkish style (poached with middle eastern style yogurt) is a very welcomed variation.

Then there are the classics: avocado toast, Caesar Salad and – again, Nordic vibes – the delicious Northern Croque: a scrumptious toasted sourdough bread with bacon, tomato, fried egg.

And because no brunch is complete without pancakes, the sweet ones (there is also a savoury option) are to die for: cooked to perfection and topped with banana, caramel and pecan nuts. And to drink? A pink latte, of course.

Dear Breakfast Santos

Calçada Marquês de Abrantes, 146 T: 964 867 125 dearbreakfast.com

European

Companhia Portugueza do Chocolate

One of the fond child memories we all have of family visits to Brussels or Paris or Geneva for the first time is entering each cities’ beautiful chocolate stores, as delicate in design as jewellery shops, where gloved hands chose bonbons one by one and put them in sophisticated little boxes for us to take home, eat and always remember.

Luckily for us, an international hotel, the Corinthia, recognised the need to bring that unique experience to Lisbon and recently opened, inside its premises, the first Companhia Portugueza do Chocolate boutique.

Glamour is the word here. For starters, the chocolatier in charge, Daniel Gomes, created Glorious, the world’s most expensive bonbon – gold leaf and rare spices are involved in the composition. And besides chocolate truffles, and exquisite flavours like Champagne or gin, this is also the place to buy honey or olive oil flavoured with cacau or, if someone in your life truly deserves it, a box of chocolates, specially selected and with the words ‘I Love You’ carved in Swarovski crystals, is available.

Corinthia Hotel

Avenida Columbano Bordalo Pinheiro 105, Lisboa

T: 217 236 300 companhiaportuguezadochocolate.pt

Seashore

Lota da Esquina

Lota means fish market in Portuguese. The restaurant kept the name of what the building was in its previous life – Cascais’s main lota – and thanks to Vítor Sobral (one of the first chefs in the country to highlight fresh, local products in his menus) is now a fish-based restaurant, close to the famous city bay.

When you enter, you get a flash of blue and ocean references that immediatly transport you to an island or a village by the sea – that, in fact, Cascais really is. The high ceiling and the generous open space are refreshing details in a time and place where the square metre is so expensive that every centimetre counts. Here, you can move at ease, either sitting at the bar, on the outside terrace or at one of the comfortable tables.

Although fish is the star here, beef or tuna tartar are real musts and the chef’s seafood rice will have you saying: “I’ll be back for this”. Fried hake fillets with coriander and bivalve rice is also a good option.

Carnivore souls will love the meat dishes on the menu – especially the beef rib that is maturated for 21 days and quite irresistable.

Lota da Esquina

Largo Mestre Henriques Anjos 182

Edifício Lota de Cascais

T: 214 841 315 lotadaesquina.com