There’s a new fine dining option in the Algarve, and it’s at one of the most established luxury resorts on the southern coast. Restaurant B&G at Vilalara Thalassa Resort, in Porches, sits on a clifftop terrace overlooking the pool below and the ocean beyond, providing a relaxing, seaside ambiance. Yet, it’s the menu created by innovative Chef Diogo Pereira, celebrating the best of quality Algarvian produce, that impresses and delights.
Indeed, this fine dining restaurant offers guests a choice of tasting menus with six or seven moments. However, Chef Diogo’s concept leaves the selection of key courses up to the guest. Standard to each tasting menu (whether six or seven) are: the opening bread course, a deliciously fresh sour dough made locally and accompanied by homemade naturally-fermented butter, flavored with seaweed from the coast; and a trio of snacks consisting Mackerel marinated in garum, crab seasoned with oranges from Silves, and sun-dried moray eel with Madeira molasses and dried chilies. Rounding out the set courses, at the end, are a variety of white and dark chocolate petit fours.
Now it’s time to select the key “middle” courses. With the six-moment option, guests select a starter, main course of fish or meat, and a dessert. For the seven-moment option, guests select a fish and a meat, as well as the starter and dessert.
It’s tough to choose! At the time of this publication, starter choices included: Carabineiro in crudo from Vila Real de Santo António; fresh scallops with traditional Silves arjamolho; tuna tartare, with fresh herbs and trout eggs; Braised Bonito from the Algarve coast; or Oysters from the Alvor estuary prepared in a light marinade.
With the fish course, it’s difficult to select from Trigger Fish with barnacles from Sagres, Caldeirada de Grouper, a favorite local cuisine; or Tuna, cooked on one side only with salted bacon and served with a generous medium dry Madeira wine.
Portuguese-raised produce is featured in the meat course. Choose from: Neck of Black Pork from the Alentejo; Matured Arouquesa Beef, served with boiled corn, slowly cooked with fig tree ash, a technique that dates back to the Aztecs; or Duck Breast, aged for five days to achieve a crispy skin and succulent meat, served with an Óbidos sour cherry (“ginja”) sauce.
The “don’t-skip” dessert options feature the light and refreshing Tangerines from the Algarve with various textures and flavored with pennyroyal, Chocolate and Alfarroba, also from the Algarve, and a Pastel de Nata reinvented by Mr. António, master pastry chef for over three decades. Perhaps the most auspicious dish is the Soufflé with Meloso Liqueur, on the menu at Vilalara since 1972. This soufflé is prepared with meloso liqueur, a blend of arbutus brandy and honey from the Monchique mountains.
Of course, to compliment the meal. B&G has a splendid list of unique wines from across Portugal handpicked by Sommelier Vitaliy Lesyuk. Ask Vitaliy for suggestions, or order the wine pairing and enjoy a journey of Portugal’s wine regions, varieties and production techniques.
For more information, visit the Restaurante B&G webpage.
Restaurante B & G
Vilalara Thalassa Resort
Praia das Gaivotas
Porches
Algarve
Reservations
Phone: +351 282 320 000
Email: reservas@vilalararesort.com
Hours: Tuesday to Saturday – 19:00 to 22:00
