What a fantastic restaurant. I do not understand how anyone could give this less than 5 stars, one of the top 10 meals I have had.
It is a small restaurant so it pays to get reservations far in advance. The interior is kind of like a house, intimate and very comfortable in a minimalist style. Our table had a view that was breathtaking. The design details are great--even the flower vase at the table was beautiful.
There are two choices for the set meals--both with the option of wine courses. My wife and I both ordered the option with fewer courses, then I did the wine pairing.
Before the meal, they brought us out a sparkling wine and a white port. Both were excellent--my wife had three glasses of the sparkling wine during the meal. All the wines were from Portugal and all were excellent.
We had two courses of amuse bouche. The first had a parsnip cream with pine nuts along with this triangle beetroot bites. Both were phenomenal--I would have been happy with a meal of either of them.
The next course was tuna, that came with cucumber gazpacho. They matched so well and this was SO good. This was matched with a vina verde grape that had kind of a green tint but matched perfectly
Next was bread. This might be considered odd as a course, but exceptional. Not only was the bread perfect, but it came with great gravy, butter, and olive oil (from Portugal). My wife does not even like gravy, but now wants to try to replicate the poultry gravy here. Then the butter was spectacular also.
Next was the sea bass. I think this was my favorite course and one of the most incredible bites I have had. The sea bass was moist and flavored so well. Then the sauce was such a great complement, just extraordinary. This was paired with a Portuguese Riesling that was also great.
Next was lamb that was paired with a red blend of 65 grapes. It was really good pairing. The lamb was moist and just melted in the mouth. This came with scallions and fennel--included some sweetbreads wrapped in a scallion. I am not a big sweetbread fan, but well done.
After that was a dessert that had crème on a pistachio crumble. Really great. There was a Madeira that came with both desserts, again a perfect match. This was followed by a coffee gelato with these little gelatinous cubes of tonic. Just amazing.
The final item was not an official course, but a Madeline with tea or coffee. Again, this was so good and I loved the Darjeeling tea.
Just a fantastic, incredible meal. read more