Taste Portugal 2014/15 Press Trip

FROM OCTOBER 2014 – March 2015, TASTE PORTUGAL will be bringing the very best of Portuguese gastronomy to London, in a series of tastings, dinners, wine master-classes, cooking demonstrations and culinary and cultural events.

Before all of this begins, however, the Portuguese Board of Tourism (Turismo de Portugal) are inviting a few select members of the press to experience Portugal, its fresh produce and aromatic cuisine, and the cultural geography and climate against which all of this is set and has grown up, on its own terms – with a six-day whirlwind tour from the north to the south of the country, stopping off at only the most successful and welcoming boutique hotels and Michelin starred restaurants, country houses and spas along the way.

Beginning in the UNESCO world heritage site of Porto, the country’s second city, guests will be welcomed at the Yeatman Hotel. Travel fatigue will be overcome by a visit to the Ramos Pinto Port wine cellar, where information will be imparted on casks and bottles, rubies and tawnies, and when it is that age – or vintage – really is on your side.

Following dinner in Ricardo Costa’s Michelin starred restaurant at the hotel, guests will sleep well before setting off, next day, for lunch at a seafood restaurant in Maosinhos, followed by a boat tour along the Douro to the vineyard Quinta de Napoles (Niepoort).

Dinner on day two will be Rui Paula’s DOC, followed by an overnight stay at Aqua Pura.

Day three sees a visit to a traditional cheese manufacturer in the Guarda region, before heading on to the capital city of Lisbon, where accommodation will be provided in the luxury boutique Bairro Alto Hotel, right in the heart of downtown, between the Bairro Alto and Chiado districts. Dinner will be enjoyed at José Avillez’s sophisticated and romantic Belcanto, set in the atmospheric old palace.

Day four, for those not yet overdosed on gastronomic delights, will bring a cooking demonstration by Vasco Lello, followed by lunch with the TV star chef Henrique Sá Pessoa. An afternoon drive through the Alentejo will lead not only to a further vineyard, but also to the forests of the porco preto – the most typical delicacy of the region. A dégustation of the healthy, vascularised meat of these black pigs – descendants of the sus mediterraneus wild boar – will be presented at a farm in Malhadinha.

Heading further south still, day five continues from the Alentejo to the Algarve, with lunch on the coast. After visiting a fish market in Sagres, the day ends on an equally astounding high with dinner at Hans Neuner’s two Michelin starred Ocean restaurant at the Vila Vita Parc.

Day six is departure day, but there’s still plenty to be enjoyed. Before lunch at CONRAD Algarve with Heinz Beck – who, with three Michelin stars to his name, really isn’t going to be a let down – there will be a visit to the market in Olhão and a boat tour in the Ria Formosa lagoon, a system of barrier islands making up a magnificent patchwork of blue water, white sand and green islands.

The flight home will depart from the southern airport of Faro, no doubt weighing in somewhat heavier than that which brought the guests out. Food and drink will have been enjoyed aplenty, but memories and dreams will also have been added to, and those lucky enough to have taken part will be coming back to the UK ready to join the team of ambassadors for TASTE PORTUGAL 2014/15.