Three nights in Porto, three new restaurants to try. After reading some great reviews online, I decided to book Pedro Lemos for our first night out. This restaurant, which carries the name of its star chef, is somehow still without a first Michelin star. But by all reports, it should be on the shortlist to receive one soon. So we were curious to find out for ourselves if chef Lemos would live up to expectations.
The restaurant is located in the modern east side of town near the oceanside. We were seated at a quiet table downstairs, and quickly greeted by our waiter. Although most people we had dealt with so far in Port spoke enough English to get by, this gentleman spoke English exceptionally, well – in fact he was probably more well spoken than most waiters we would meet in England. In fact, it doesn’t seem quite correct to call him a waiter – he gave more of an air of a “host”, and he was assisted by other servers.
He also was apparently our expert sommelier for the evening, particularly specialising in the local wine of the Douro Valley region near Porto. We allowed him to choose a white dry port as an aperitif to start.
It then came time to order, and I explained that we wanted to try everything the chef had to offer, so we opted for the 7-course “Sete Momentos” for one of us, and the 5-course “Cinco Momentos” for the other. We also allowed our host to select wines to match each course, and soon learned that this would be not only a tour of culinary senses, but also a brilliant introduction to to the variety of wine the region has to offer.
Amuse bouche – canneloni, quail, white cream cheese sauce, green veg, watercress. This mini-canneloni was bite-size, but felt like so much more than a typical amuse bouche. Truly delicious and rich, and I could imagine having a satisfying meal of just this item.
“O Foie Gras de Pato Mullard” – the Mullard duck foie gras. Due to my allergy to certain shellfish, I had to request a substitution for the first dish in the 5 course menu (which was originally intended to be “Os moluscos, mariscos e bivalves” – The mollusc, seafood and shellfood. The chef quickly sent this dish out instead – actually a later item from the 7 course menu. The foie gras was served beautifully, with a seared, almost caramelized top of the duck fat, and on top of a crumb crust, with a spoonful of sweet honey and a sweet macaroon. This concept of serving a sweet macaroon with foie gras seems to be a trend at the moment – perhaps it accentuates the “french-ness” of the foie gras dish. It was sweet, but it definitely worked, and every component of this dish was delicious and expertly prepared. I noted that in particular the Douro late harvest 2006 port, a white, sweet, and very rich wine, was an excellent pair for the foie gras and tied the sweet elements of the dish together. An excellent start to the meal, and really set the stage for a performance of the chef and the sommelier working together in absolute harmony.
“O Lavagante Azul” – The Blue Lobster. The 7 course meal started with this pretty lobster dish. A couple of perfect chunks of lobster meat, topped with truffle caviar, and swimming in a foam that I guessed might be celeriac – light and a bit potato-like. A fresh, light dish to start this meal, quite different from the start for the 5 courses. Already we were seeing the breadth the chef had to offer.
The lobster was served with a sparkling white pinot blanc.
“A Alheira de Mirandela” – The Traditional White Portuguese Sausage. This sausage was served in something like a fried scotch egg, with an onion foam and topped with the truffle caviar. Accompanied with some mushrooms that looked so fresh they could have been picked straight from the forest, and some other fibrous vegetable, I couldn’t quite work it out, possibly eggplant, but more chewy than usual. I noted it was a very nice combination of something fried and something fresh, one of my favorites from the meal. This was accompanied by a Doura Craca Vinhas Antigas Riservas, a wood fermented wine.
“O Salmonete de Setubal” – The Red Mullet. This was served as a soup with prawn, squid, mussel, and cuttlefish. The soup had coriander and finely diced sweet red pepper. A broth was poured on at the table to complete the soup, and the result tasted of the freshness of the sea. This dish was served with a particularly interesting choice of wine, a dry jasmine rose muscatel from Da Fonseca.
Next for the 7 course meal, the foie gras was served again, but this time accompanied with a Douro Aneto sweet port from the ocean side of the region, as opposed to the wine from the central area served before. This wine was a bit more special, and hence reserved for the 7 course meal.
“O Bacalhau de Cura Portuguesa” – The Portuguese Cured Codfish. This complex dish consisted of cod served two ways, along with olive tapenade, and a small portion of the chef’s interpretation of portuguese migas, which were cooked in the codfish broth. I noted that I could eat those migas all day, and the leftover broth on the table was so good I had to soak it up with some bread. This dish was served with a Syrah red, smooth and dry, grown in the south of portugal, in Alagarve, and bottled by Hans Christian Andersen. An excellent wine, but I noted that it was a strange pairing for the cod – although the migas were so rich it did kind of work.
“O Pexe de Anzol” – Fish from the hook. This dish was basically the chef’s preparation of the fresh fish of the day, and clearly the most whimsical part of the meal conceptually. The selection for the day was “Galhina do mar” – chicken of the sea. Although in English we usually refer to tuna as the chicken of the sea, apparently in Portuguese, the chicken of the sea is a kind of Torpedinidae, a type of electric ray fish. The chef went with a play on words, and wrapped the fish in chicken skin, and then served it in a chicken broth, with cauliflower. I found this to be the most dissapointing dish of the night – although conceptually interesting, the result was to cancel out most of the fresh fish flavor of the torpedo ray (which apparently is a great fish for stews), and converted this into basically a bland chicken dish. We noted that the dish might go well in scandanavian cuisine. Too much gimmick and not enough focus on flavor here. And to top it off, there was a bone in the fish. This was served with a Douro Valley fermented white blended wine from the hotter (harsher) region of the valley, which produces richer and more unique quality of wine. It had a full minerality, with some oaky creaminess – a very special wine with a smell similar to a white port, and a creamy melting sensation on the tongue, not unsimilar of the sensation of a good red wine. I noted that the wine did accompany the chicken flavor of the dish quite well – so once again perhaps our expert sommelier had saved the day.
“O Cabrito das Terras Altas” – The Kid Goat. This was my favorite dish of the night. The presentation was lovely and colorful. The goat meat was served on a bed of couscous with parsnip, smoked bits of bacon, liver, and kidneys, and onions – this all gave that green sliced vegetable an amazing taste that complemented the cabrito. This was just amazing cooking, and simple, rich flavors that I can still recall a craving for.
“A Vitela Mirandesa” – The Mirandesa Veal. This was a selection of hearty portuguese meat dishes on a single plate. The veal filet was served quite pink and tasty, and the perfect 100g size of beef for someone like me, not being a huge steak lover, to get my fill of beef for the night. Served with a typical portuguese chourizo sausage and potatoes. I noted that for me the chourizo reminded me of a mix between mexican dishes carne guisada and barbacoa, and was “exactly what you always wished carne guisada could be”. This is what makes a meal special, things that bring you back to the good old days. Both of the meat dishes were served with an Old Vinyard Douro, which turned out to be an excellent wine pairing for beef in particular, but good for the capretto as well.
It’s not a huge suprise that dessert is when the wines truly got interesting, this being the home of port wine afterall. For the 7 course meal, an Alambre Moscatel Douro 20 years aged, which was evident in the mix of color, somwhere between dark rose and brown. For the 5 course meal, a Blandys Madeira Island Varamel, aged 10 years. We learned from our sommelier that the “stuffado” storage system of intense heat during the wine production process aims to recreate the environment of the old ships that were used to transport these wines long ago. My madeira was produced from a grape called Malmsey (or Malvasia) from Madeira island, which is “only” 19-20pct alcohol – but the taste was still very strong. The Moscatel had a lighter color and consistency, and lighter taste as well, but quite a bit of nasal fumes – while the Malmsey was deep, dark, and rich.
“Os Citrinos” – The Citrus. For the 7 course menu, the first dessert was a fruit terrine with citrus fruit sauce, orange sorbet, and fruit mousse. All very light and fresh, something like shortbread underneath. More sour than sweet.
A small pre-dessert was offered for the 5 course meal, a proftterol with chocolate sauce.
“A Banana da Madeira” – The Banana from Madeira. The 5 course meal finished with this banana brownie dessert, with a madeira reduction. Some caramel, a sugar disc on top of the banana, also a banana foam/smoothie/mousse thing. Served with a lemon sorbet on some chocolate pieces. The banana mousse was the best part of this one.
“O Chocolate” – The Chocolat. Of course, as is the trend today, the 7 course meal was served with the chef’s version of Chocolate Royale. This was very rich, chocolate/hazlenut mousse, very soft in 3 layers. Topped with a rasberry and some rasberry powder, and of course some edible silver/platinum bits.
The 7 course menu was also finished with a glass of Taylor’s vintage port. The only problem with saving the best for last in a meal like this, is after so many glasses of wine of course you’re too tipsy to fully appreciate the quality of this port. But it was very appreciated nevertheless.
If we were pressed to come up with a negative note for the restaurant, it would be that we were not impressed with the espresso coffee at the end – it was too long and lacking taste, and at that point I was really craving a nice strong espresso. Of course I’m a coffee snob, so it’s probably hard to impress me. But if they could improve their coffee, I think they would really be on to something!
We were lucky enough to be greeted by Pedro himself at the end of the meal. I’m always suprised to see how young some of these chefs are, and how much they’ve already accomplished. This is a rising star to keep an eye on.
I hate to give away the ending early, but I have to go ahead and say that Pedro Lemos was the most memorable experience of our trip to Porto, and was much more special (and delicious) than the other more acclaimed restaurants. I would make another trip to Porto just to visit this restaurant again.
Pedro Lemos Restaurante
Rua do Padre Luís Cabral, 974
Foz do Douro
4150-459 Porto
Portugal
+351 220 115 986
http://www.pedrolemos.net
The original set of high-res photos is here.