Lisbon is really a city suitable for experiencing "a good time with nothing to do". Looking at the water and the sky in the port on the west side of the city, the Belém Tower, which witnessed the glory of Portugal's great navigation era, still stands here today, and there are many tourists. In the Alfama area, aimlessly explore all kinds of ancient buildings and narrow alleys, and you may see delightful and lovely corners when you turn a corner. Or board any of the trams and wander through the streets of Lisbon. At sunset, use your eyes to record the warm golden buildings in the sunset…
No purpose is sometimes the best travel arrangement. The restaurant we walked into by chance – Terroir, also became an unforgettable surprise in this trip to Lisbon. Inês Santos and Erik Ibrah, the founders of Terroir, hope to create a space where people can enjoy unconstrained cuisine easily and comfortably through the restaurant. The name of the restaurant means the earth. Chef Guilherme takes Portuguese local ingredients as the core, and incorporates the inspiration and skills he acquired while working in restaurants in various countries, and finally presents creative cuisine rooted in Portuguese land while incorporating international flavors.
The cocktail list includes several exclusive cocktails carefully conceived and inspired by Portugal's national wines. "Touriga" is a combination of Portuguese gin Foxtale, domestic Touriga Nacional red wine, elderflower, lime and egg white. It is refreshing and can feel the rich berry aroma and sufficient tannin of domestic Touriga red grapes. Totally, very entertaining.
The three appetizers are placed on a specially shaped log, which seems to grow naturally, which once again fits the name of the restaurant "Terroir". Enjoy each of the three appetizers in order from light to full-bodied. The open sandwich made of sliced cuttlefish, cuttlefish juice, and toast slices is blessed with smoked chili, which magnifies the delicious taste of the seafood itself; the raw beef tartar is served with Japanese seaweed sauce, and the seafood and meat flavors complement each other. Appetite whetted. The store's homemade table bread is first topped with Portuguese olive oil and sea salt, and finally the dried tuna unique to southern Portugal is ground and sprinkled on the top. It may seem plain, but the dried tuna meat condenses the fragrance and deliciousness, giving it a simple taste. The bread tastes amazing.
Cod and pork cheek are common ingredients in the Portuguese diet. Terroir endows Portuguese cuisine with a unique temperament by adding international flavors such as Thai green curry. The balance of various elements makes the overall sense of disobedience, and the whole dining experience has a lot of remarkable creativity. The most memorable dish is the appetizer of clam broth jelly with wild rose sorbet (first picture). The cockle meat is boiled out of juice and mixed with broth to make "pudding", which melts in the mouth, and the umami bursts in the mouth, just like the monkfish liver known as "sea foie gras", which is as delicate and silky. With the matching rose sorbet at the entrance, the natural rose fragrance spreads all over the tongue and spreads to the mouth and nasal cavity in an instant. The aroma of flowers and the umami of shellfish sounds unrelated, but they can combine such a special taste.
Today, when the catering industry is flooded with a large number of lists, rankings, and star ratings, when choosing a restaurant, it is inevitable that you will be confused and difficult to make a decision due to excess information. I believe that many people have visited high-profile restaurants, but the actual experience is not as expected. And follow your intuition, but it is easier to encounter surprises. Your taste buds are the only eternal gold standard in this world, so why stick to ratings and star ratings?
