A dinner on dry land, at Vista Restaurante, from Bela Vista Hotel & SPA (Praia da Rocha, Portimão), was the starting point for yet another Mar Adentro festival. But, the next day, lunch was on board the trawl boat »Mexilhão», moored at the fishing port of Arade.
On October 13th and 14th, the Bela Vista Hotel & SPA (Praia da Rocha, Portimão) was once again the grand stage of Mar Adentro, the initiative that Amuse Bouche has been organizing since 2015 in partnership with João Oliveira, Head Executive of View Restaurant, and Pedro Bastos, from nutrifresh.
In the 3rd edition, the sustainability of the oceans was discussed again and the Portuguese sea was honored, through a dinner and a lunch with fish and shellfish more unknown to the general public — the eternal protagonists of this event where everything unfolds at the rhythm of tides.
The start was made on dry land, with a dinner at Vista Restaurante. The menu, exclusively dedicated to species from Portuguese waters, was designed by the in-house team and two special guests, chefs Vítor Matos (Antiqvvm, 1* Michelin) and Luís Gaspar (Cutting Room and Chef of the Year 2017), who accepted the challenge of cooking with lesser known fish.
Photo – Paulo Barata
“We all had a small idea of the species we were going to work with, but days before Mar Adentro we had some surprises”, says chef and host João Oliveira, when he came across what the sea had brought him.
And what was it? Sarrajão, Azores lily, black horse mackerel, rascasso, deep red mullet, fish that, in the hands of the three chefs, gained recognition. Elaborate and appetizing creations arrived at Vista's tables, proving the potential of these species.
The following day, the theme of industrial and artisanal fishing came to light, in a presentation that featured interventions by Miguel Cunha (Forehead and Wedges), Rita Sa (World Wild Fund) and Pedro Bastos (nutrifresh).
“We took people to a trawl boat and launched the debate. We wanted to talk about the types of fishing, and, in a way, try to understand how we can reuse the tons of fish that are wasted every day”, clarifies the chef at Vista, who defends the quality of Portuguese fish, but regrets the fact that some species are inaccessible.
“We have really good fish, but which, due to lack of interest or legislative difficulties related to fishing quotas and sales at auctions, do not reach us. And then what happens is that many species, because they are not known on the market, have no value and are not traded”.
At the lunch that followed, and during which they were in action, in the improvised kitchen on the boat, chefs Tiago Bonito (Largo do Paço, 1* Michelin), Vasco Coelho Santos (Euskalduna Studio) and João Oliveira, were the less common species that were in the spotlight.
Discover here the dinner menu at Vista Restaurante
Discover here the lunch menu on board «Mexilhão»
Photos: Paulo Barata
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