The Bela Vista Hotel & Spa – Relais & Châteaux, located in front of the sea, in Praia da Rocha, reopens its doors on the 2nd of March and, to mark the new season of 2018, Chef João Oliveira, recently awarded with a Michelin star, designed a menu that will guide Vista Restaurante's flavors for the coming year.
75% of the Vista menu's overall alignment will be dedicated to seafood, mainly from the Portuguese coast, and this year Chef João Oliveira presents a new concept: the Sea Menu and Sustainability, a “movement” created for Vista, which is guided by the values of the sustainability of the ingredients, their creation, as well as their capture, bringing a renewed “Sustainable Portugal” to the restaurant table located on the cliff, in Praia da Rocha.
«We are talking about a sustainable menu, without carbohydrates, without gluten, with respect for flavors, by its producers, 95% of Portuguese origin and, of course, guided by the demand of the consumer of the XNUMXst century. More than a movement, this is an ideology that lives in our kitchen and which is now elevated to the menu, where you can find all kinds of fish on the national coast, from the so-called noble fish, to the currents, as well as shellfish, crustaceans and vegetables , where land and sea intersect in a purist tasting experience”, guarantees João Oliveira.
The consolidated Chef's Experience Menu, with an alignment that crosses the best national and international, ensures the most iconic dishes that have already conquered Vista's customers and visitors, with Carabineiro do Algarve, Lagostim, Leitão da Bairrada and the pre-dessert Laranja do Algarve, served to perfection in a bonsai.
The big news on this menu promises to become some of the hit dish from the south of the country, especially Corvina, Veal with Milk Matured to 45 days and Chocolate desserts, as well as Raspberry.
Photo: Paulo Barata
«In this menu, we tried to keep the crown jewels, the winning dishes that won over those who visit us, and innovate consistently, following the experience we intend to provide at Vista. In this menu, you will find, at a single table, the best of our country, but also a little of the best international ingredients, in a unique fusion».
To extract the full potential of ingredients and their best time, Chef João Oliveira also proposes to create a monthly schedule for 2018, highlighting one product per month.
The product selected for the month of March is croaker, a fish mainly from cold waters and which, at this time of year, presents its best phase. «This is the perfect time of year to catch this fish, as it is possible to obtain an above-average quality product that will later help to recreate some of the delicacies present in these menus. Even more, it is a very typical fish from the sea of Praia da Rocha», stresses João Oliveira.
Finally, and in order to maximize the experience of his customers, Chef João Oliveira also took a new approach to the cheese board at Vista and opted for a more judicious choice, selecting only four types of cheese so that, once again, don't miss the flavor of each of the products. They are goat, sheep and cow cheeses, 100% handcrafted and from small Portuguese producers.
«In this new menu, it is possible to find simplicity combined with the intensity of each flavor, a very unique DNA for Chef João Oliveira, as well as a result of an intense teamwork composed from the kitchen team to the living room team, led by Tiago Pereira», explains the Bela Vista Hotel.
"Hundreds of hours were dedicated to finding and choosing the perfect ingredients, respecting them in the way we work with them and developing innovative cooking techniques, so that these same products present, on the plate, the full range of their qualities", he points out. João Oliveira.
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