Jump to content
  • Welcome to the eG Forums, a service of the eGullet Society for Culinary Arts & Letters. The Society is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of the culinary arts. These advertising-free forums are provided free of charge through donations from Society members. Anyone may read the forums, but to post you must create a free account.

Chiado


Wilfrid

Recommended Posts

I just wanted to mention Chiado briefly; it was a little disappointing, although it came well recommended. It's a self-described Portuguese restaurant, but I found that - a little like New York's Pico - the Portuguese traits are more in the decor and wine list than the cooking.

There were a few Portuguese specialities on an otherwise fairly general 'Mediterranean' menu. The decor is nicely old-fashioned - wood panelling, oil paintings - but the restaurant was a little too dimly lit to appreciate this, or indeed to read the menu. They didn't seem thrilled to see a single, even on a Sunday evening, and I was seated in a fairly draughty space near the front door. The more cheerful back room might have helped me enjoy the food.

They had clam and chorizo stew, but the version I ate at Pico was so memorably nasty that I couldn't face it. I tried grilled sardines (they also offer them raw). They were meaty enough, served on the bone, but not exactly bursting with flavor.

The menu was confusingly laid out. It offers first, second and third dishes, so I thought I could order an appetizer, fish and then meat, but when I ordered a fish dish (under second courses list), and then rabbit, I was told I had ordered two entrees. Whatever, I discarded the fish dish (maybe a mistake as the restaurant has a reputation for fish) and settled for the special rabbit Portuguese-style. They warned me it would take some time to prepare, and it did, but at least it was served hot. Saddle and leg of crisply roasted rabbit, quite acceptable, but again not sensational.

A glass of Grao Vasco white to start, then a Portguese red, and a Canadian ice wine with the dessert, Tocinho de Ceu, which turned out to be a sort of squash version of pumpkin pie, and was pleasant enough with an interesting texture.

An okay meal rather than stellar, although the $70 US price tag ($113 Canadian) also helped digest it.

By the way, what depressingly small measures of spirits are served in Toronto. An apple martini I drank as a nightcap was mainly fruit juice!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

By the way, what depressingly small measures of spirits are served in Toronto.  An apple martini I drank as a nightcap was mainly fruit juice!

It's the law - let them know you're american and overtip - you'll get taken care of.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What an interesting post, Wilfrid....thanks!

I'm continually fascinated by what is supposed to pass for "Portuguese food" on this continent. I'm especially fascinated by the information that not one, but TWO restuarants on this side of the Atlantic serve a "clam and chouriço stew", something I never encountered in 4 years of living and eating in Portugal (it sounds odd, but it's something I would have definitely tried if I ever saw it on a menu). I also can't help but wonder how "rabbit Portuguese-style" can be roasted when virtually no one in Portugal prepares it that way (I say virtually--I know I never encountered it, and I love well-prepared rabbit). There are many wonderful rabbit dishes done other ways, though--I've eaten it braised, fried, and--my favorite--stewed with rice, with or without blood and giblets!

Toucinho do ceu is a real Portuguese confection, but not the one you ate! In reality, it is a dense, extremely sweet egg-yolk-and-ground-almond concoction (it's name means "bacon from heaven"). If you had a squash something, it was an attempt to replicate one of the many Portuguese desserts made with xila, a cooked and sweetened squash very much like spaghetti squash.....I always found it disgusting, personally.

Grão Vasco is, in Portugal at least, considered a fairly ordinary wine--above average in its general category, but quite ordinary. I imagine you paid for your glass about what an entire bottle would cost in a restaurant in Portugal! If you ever get the chance, try Quinta de Bacalhoa or a good vintage of Esporão.

I don't mean for this to come off sounding snobbish....I just find it very strange that people open what they call "Portuguese" restaurants, then don't trust Portuguese cuisine enough to actually serve it. I would be fascinated to see what would happen if someone with taste and knowledge ever did open a REAL Portuguese restaurant over here. It would, at the very least, be a complete revelation to many....it might even be a big success!

My restaurant blog: Mahlzeit!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I wasn't too impressed with Chiado when I took an out of town guest there a couple of months ago. Albino Silva who owns Chiado was the chef there until he opened Adega. Silva is now the chef at Adega and Manuel Vilela is the chef at Chiado. I think Silva made Chiado and now perhaps it's missing his touch? I haven't tried Adega to compare.

Silva was also a co-owner of Circo, which was place that served nouvelle Italian and Portuguese cuisine (whatever that meant). At any rate, I've heard Circo had mixed reviews and it closed a few weeks ago. The place is now an Indian restaurant.

Cataplana is a fairly new place just a few doors west of Chiado and it was opened up by Francisco Valeriano who managed Chiado for the last nine years. His partner is Jose Alves, who is the chef. It's a pleasant place but the food is okay, and again mostly a mix of other cuisine with a few Portuguese dishes (Cataplana of clams or seasonal fish, grilled salt codfish -- but also Australian rack of lamb and grilled Canadian Black Angus steak).

I think these high-end Portuguese restaurants tend to have a more general menu to try to please as many people as possible but you'll be a bit disappointed if you expected a wide range of authentic Portuguese dishes.

Many of the Portuguese restaurants seem to have had some association with Chiado. There's this place that I've heard good things about that is right in between Chiado and Cataplana - Piri-Piri Churrasqueira which is owned by Agnelo DeCosta who was briefly a partner of Chiado when it first opened. It seems to have wider range of Portuguese dishes but I'm not expert enough to know how authentic they are. It's not high-end, more of a casual place.

Here's a link to Piri-Piri - Eric what do you think of the menu?

Piri-Piri Churrasqueira

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Since I have now appointed myself the Portuguese food guru of the board, I will now pass sentence on these two restaurants..... :rolleyes:

First of all, Cafe Ferreira--this appears to be the sort of high-end place with a more general menu mentioned by Degustation above. The real Portuguese options on the menu (at least real-sounding....one never knows how they're actually going to prepare the dish!) are the caldo verde, possibly the creme de mariscos, depending on how they make it, the sardinhas grelhadas, the chouriço (but without the bean salad....a salad of black-eyed peas is a very traditional Portuguese thing, but NOT as an accompaniment to chouriço!), the lulas grelhadas, the octopus salad (but once again, it would not normally be served with chickpeas or eggplant caviar.....), the bacalhau (practically the Portuguese national foodstuff!), the arroz de marisco (once again, depending on how it was prepared....rice dishes are NOT risotto-like in Portugal, but much more soupy), the cataplana of fish and shellfish, carne de porco à alentejana (for me, this dish redeems the whole menu--very traditional and a truly wonderful dish if well prepared), and possibly the veal chop (a conceivably Portuguese preparation, but in high-end restaurants only, obviously). All in all, not a bad average I suppose......the other dishes, however, although they may contain a recognizably Portuguese ingredient or two, have nothing to do with Portuguese cooking or execution (lemon-flavored rice? Port reduction with fish?? Sesame-crusted tuna???).

As for Piri-Piri: the menu of this joint just SCREAMS typical, simple neighborhood restaurant in Lisbon! (kind of makes me nostalgic.....prego! bitoque! bifana!....bifana was my favorite late-afternoon snack in Lisbon, washed down by a nice, cold impérial or two, of course!) Pay special attention to the daily specials (forgetting the pastas, of course)--they are virtually all wonderful, interesting dishes, unique to Portuguese food......chanfana, feijoada, cozido, arroz de tamboril, coelho à caçador--all are totally authentic dishes, and, if well prepared, very good eating. It's almost shocking to see mão de vaca com grão on the menu....it's such a traditional, simple, working-class kind of dish, and one I never expected to see anywhere outside of a tasca in Lisbon.

My best advice: go on a Tuesday so you can try the arroz de cabidela. This is, by a lot, my favorite traditional Portuguese dish, but the translation of "chicken risotto" could be a bit misleading.....what it actually is (with the usual caveat of "assuming proper preparation") is chicken that has been stewed with its own giblets (especially liver and heart, and often some bacon and chouriço tossed in for good measure), served with rice that has been cooked in the cooking liquid of the chicken....chicken blood is then added at the end, giving the rice a dark, rich "seasoned" aspect, and finished with some cilantro.

The appetizer list is also totally authentic, although mussels are not generally prepared "à Bulhão Pato", just small clams--wonderful when done well.

This makes me wish I were closer to Toronto......it's been months since I've had a good cabidela!

My restaurant blog: Mahlzeit!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ah, interesting. Thanks Eric.

But Ferreira never intended to be a truly authentic -- dare I say old-style -- Portuguese restaurant. We have other restaurants here in Montreal with a far more traditional menu. Yes, Cafe Ferreira falls into the nouvelle Portuguese category, but by choice, not default.

They also have an excellent selection of Portuguese wines and Ports.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I guess I misunderstood, at least in part, the nature of your request.

Cafe Ferreira is obviously not a "traditional" Portuguese restaurant. Still, it does some things that are not in any way Portuguese.....all of the more nouvelle-type restaurants I tried in Portugal (at least all the ones I can remember, and the ones that identified themselves as somehow Portuguese and not another ethnicity) still stayed within certain parameters derived from traditions in Portuguese cooking. For instance, Cafe Ferreira has a couple of salads on the menu that include cheese.....I never encountered cheese in a salad ever in a restaurant in Portugal, no matter how upscale. To me, that simply says, loud and clear, "NOT Portuguese". There were several odd "red flag" items like that on the menu.

Still, they've evidently put a lot of thought into their menu....it's probably a good place.

My restaurant blog: Mahlzeit!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 years later...
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...