Contemporary Fusion Cuisine in Chiado’s Oldest Bookstore

HAVING TRAINED in London at the Park Lane Hotel on Piccadilly in the late 1990s, as well as having spent time in Sydney, Australia, where he was strongly influenced by Asian food, something which remains a signature in dishes to this day, Henrique Sá Pessoa returned to his native Portugal in around 2002. There he became the head chef at the Bairro Alto hotel, Lisbon, when it opened, and then later at the Panorama Restaurant on the top floor of the Sheraton. Six years ago he launched his first solo venture, Alma, and, since then, it has gone from strength to strength.

The only problem was the location. ‘The previous location was not that central and so we lost some business, especially in terms of international guests – and 60-70% of our business is international guests,’ Sá Pessoa explains. Hence his motivation to move. And the space attached to Bertrand, which had unfortunately – or fortunately, looking at it from an epicurean point of view – to downsize and sell off some of its storage space, is not only well situated, but also a very beautiful location. Dating from the late 1700s, it has curved ceilings and is architecturally very unique.

Sá Pessoa already has a team of 40-50 people and when Alma reopens, he’ll expand this even more. He will be working with one of the best sommeliers in the country, who is also the president of the Sommeliers Association in Portugal, and he intends to have a very large wine cellar, not least in part because one of his partner’s businesses is also a gourmet wine shop with more than 12,000 wines. ‘Obviously we're going to take advantage of that to cater for the restaurant,’ he laughs.

Alma is being marketed as a fine dining establishment within a casual chic environment: ‘Something like in Nordic countries where you can have a one Michelin star restaurant without all the fuss’. There will be three tasting menus and a more accessible lunch menu. The goal will be to make it a friendly and welcoming place.

‘There is so much potential for Portuguese food, which is currently not so well known worldwide,’ says Sá Pessoa. He compares his country to Spain or Denmark in recent years. ‘I think Portugal is going through that same process. There’s a lot of young chefs coming up. We just need to market ourselves better, especially to capture the international market, which is something I think we’re still lacking. Obviously initiatives like TASTE PORTUGAL are a great way to market Portuguese chefs and products and wine to an audience that appreciates them. And London is one of the gastronomic meccas in the world right now.’

Sá Pessoa describes his cuisine as modern Portuguese with some Asian hints. ‘The Asian twist is one of my signatures. I obviously try to include as many local Portuguese products and Portuguese recipes as I can, but I think you have to remain true to your style of cooking. Each chef should have his own unique style and mine is to blend in some Asian ingredients. I use a lot of lemon grass, ginger, coriander, chilis and I incorporate these into what is known as the more traditional Portuguese experience. So far I’ve been quite successful with that and hopefully, with the new Alma, we’ll take it to another level.’