Flavours of Porto
First Night Feast
at The Yeatman
Ricardo Costa, who has been Executive Chef at The Yeatman’s Michelin starred restaurant since it opened in 2010, served up an eight-course menu to make your eyes water
GALLERY
‘The Autumn Broth, was, for me, the highlight of the entire menu: sea bass, shrimp, langoustine and other sea food – each mouthful a new experience’
GUESTS ON THE Taste Portugal 2014/15 press trip were treated to a first night feast to remember last night, with a menu of delectable fresh produce, served up with Ricardo Costa’s inimitable flair as artworks on a plate.
To begin, what better than a juicy, large oyster – accompanied by carefully selected Soalheiro Reserva Minho 2013, a crisp, light and clean alvarinho from the north of Portugal, similar, says Wine Director Beatriz Machado, to a wine from the Alsace. To follow, a melt in the mouth dollop of codfish curry. The third course, Autumn Broth, was, for me, the highlight of the entire menu: sea bass, shrimp, langoustine and other sea food – each mouthful a new experience – served in crustacean cream and a light frothy champagne sauce. On the side, but no less enjoyable, was a selection of breads, including carob, fruit loaf, corn bread and focaccia, to be spread with homemade butter or dipped in olive oil from the Vargellas vineyard, which was noted as one of the top 25 olive oils in the world – the only one from Portugal – in Wine and Spirit magazine’s recent list.
The fourth and final fish course was a molecular style, lightly cooked piece of turbot, chewy but full of flavour. On the side was perhaps the most delicious mushroom I have ever encountered, a bolete mushroom, with the firmest texture and strongest flavour.
Moving on to meat, we were treated to crunchy suckling pig belly with lobster slices and herb sprout salad. Then came some roasted deer with chestnuts, baby onions, ginger, and a side bowl of pearl barley risotto with chanterelles. These dishes were accompanied by a delightfully chilled 2010 Pato d’Oiro (Golden Duck – a deliberate mistranslation and play on the closeness of oiro and oro), which is a wonderful and well rounded blend of tinta roriz and baga, from Luís Pato and José Bento dos Santos, and quite a treat, since it is a very limited edition of just 3000 bottles and 30 magnums.
Pre-dessert was a concoction of yoghurt, lime ice cream, cinnamon and physalis. This was followed by a gazpacho of red fruits with kumquat sorbet and wasabi – a kick to end the meal – accompanied by Taylor’s 10 Year Old Tawny Port, served chilled.
