There is a World's Top 50 Restaurants list that is fairly well established and while there are of course politics around holds some weight. Both of these two restaurants are on that list, with Belcanto at #42 (highest in Portugal), and Azurmendi at #14 - somehow just the third highest ranked restaurant in the Basque region. We were waitlisted at one of the higher ones - Asador Extebarri - and the other - Mugaritz - was not all that well reviewed. Aside from that Top-50 list is of course Michelin Stars, an even more politically mixed list - but for that Belcanto has two (the first 2-star restaurant in Portugal) and Azurmendi has three. Anyway, let's get to talking about the meals.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Belcanto is just fancy. It's proper, it's white table clothes (was the softest white cloth I've ever touched). it's named for an opera as it is a block away from the main opera house in Lisbon. There is a regal-ness to Belcanto which stays consistent with quite a few of their dishes, including maybe the most known named 'The Garden of the Goose that laid the Golden Egg.' But more on that dish in a minute.
The night started with a specialty whiskey-sour esque cocktail made with a Portuguese liquor. We were told to drink it in one sip, which we all happily obliged.
The first few courses were all served at once, a series of small bites each tastier than the last. The themes, if any, were seafood (which of course, it's Portugal!) and decadence. Up first
1.) Brioche with cod liver, which was so soft, so interesting, and so well presented with the little flowers on top. It was so soft it crumbled in my hand - not a bad thing in this case.
2.) The 'golden sphere' of foie gras and port, which is an incredible combination of things - this one looked better than it tasted mainly because it looked ridiculous, like a giant golden marble. This was a truly stunning little bite.
3.) Braised sardines with roasted foam of eggplant and peppers which was incredible. Portugal is known for its sardines and these were just perfectly, lightly cooked.
4.) The squid taco with chicken skin - this might have been the one slightly off dish of the small bites, mainly because it was a bit too crumbly. Still really tasty however
5.) Oyster of tuna belly and 'borage', which was just insanely good. How can you make an oyster better in a fine dining restaurant? Add tuna tartere and a little 'pearl'.
6.) Carrot three ways, with a chestnut sauce and dill - a lot more interesting than my famed (in my house, at least) carrot three ways a year back. This dish was made for me by the weirdly good taste of the chestnut sauce.
7.) The bread and butter course, whcih might have been the highlight due to the butters (the black one) which was infused with smoked rosemary which tasted insanely good. The chorizo infused butter (the red one) was one of the sole disappointments, mostly because we expected more.
8.) This was an interesting dish, with chilled Portuguese shore prawns in a pine nut cream. I'm not sure if this was the intention, but once again the sauce was the best part, as the weird pine nut cream was just so oddly interesting.
9.) This was the 'garden of the goose.....' dish, which is just 'oh my god.' It's basically a lightly cooked egg, with mushroom crumble. I have no idea how he does this, I have no idea why it works. But man was this a show-stopper.
10.) Seabass with avocado scales which looked amazing, though as someone who isn't an avocado person this was probably my least favorite dish of the night.
11.) Roasted squad with hazelnut sauce and a mushroom and truffle nata - which is just ludicrous. The squab was perfect, but that mushroom and truffle pastel de nata was just about the best thing I've had in the meal - so uniquely Portugeuse and so great.
12.) I'm usually not one for the deserts at tasting menus - even at Gaggan, probably my favorite meal, the deserts were a bit "take it or leave it". At Belcanto they were great, starting with a weird 'chocolate' dish which had a squid ink base. The best part was how black it made all of our teeth.
13.) The final dish was a sweet egg cream inside of a fake edible egg-shell, again another just ingenious, simple, tasty desert.
Overall, Belcanto was a great meal, if not for the one to come would've easily been the highlight of the meal. There are two tasting menu options there, the 'classic' menu which is what we got, and the 'experimental' one. Truly I do wish I had a chance to eat both, but I'm happy I went with, and got to fully experience, Chef Jose Avillez's classics.
Next up - Azurmendi, which has a shot at being my favorite meal to date
