Despite occupying some prime real estate in Chiado, with views over Baixa, Alfama, and Castelo São Jorge, EPUR began life as a showroom for high-end kitchen supplies. Thankfully, chef Vincent Farges, who made his name by earning a Michelin star at Fortaleza do Guincho, had a better idea. After a stint of cooking in the Caribbean, he chose it as the site of his return to Portugal and his first stand-alone restaurant, a showplace for Portuguese ingredients and stripped-down cooking.
The name is a made-up word that suggests purity in several languages. That is evident in the dining room, where the beautiful wood tables are left uncovered, and simple, century-old azulejos grace the walls.
Purity is especially evident in the food, which is uncomplicated. Farges spent a year traveling the length of Portugal to find his supplier, and he changes the menu daily to reflect what vegetables and proteins are at their absolute peak.
In fact, the kitchen still looks like something of a showroom, with Bulthaup, Vitra, and Sub-Zero counters and appliances, but it’s now where Farges and his team of chefs turn out impeccably plated, deceptively simple dishes. While the technique is precise, Farges is adamant that it’s ultimately all about the ingredients—there is nothing on any plate, he says, that does not have a reason for being there.
Even the menu is relentlessly simple. There are nine dishes each day, divided into starters, mains, and desserts, with cryptic descriptions like “water, from the sea or the ria,” “greens, sublimated seasonal vegetables,” and “chocolate, and something else.” These are mixed and matched into four, six, or eight course tasting menus. For me, that included fresh vegetables with pickled rhubarb and green curry, sea bass with fennel and pearl barley, and rockfish with a fricassee of broad beans and chanterelles. The desserts have savory notes, as in chicory and celery with matcha ice cream, and chocolate mousse with chartreuse and juniper glacée.
For more information, visit the Epur website.
Epur
Largo da Academia das Belas Artes, 14
Lisbon
Phone: +351 213 460 519
Email: reserve@epur.pt
Hours: Tuesday to Saturday – 12:30 to 15:00 and 19:30 to 23:00
Photos: Luis Ferraz
