‘Fado’ promises fine dining rooted in traditional gastronomy

Marco Gomes and Luís Américo

 

TWO well-known chefs from Portugal have opened a new restaurant in Macau. Located at Hotel Royal, the establishment is named after the famous Portuguese musical genre. According to chef Marco Gomes, “Fado Restaurant” promises to bring “an author’s cuisine rooted in traditional gastronomy. It’s a delicate cuisine that never forgets the original flavors and tastes.”
Marco Gomes runs a restaurant in Oporto, called Foz Velha, that recently celebrated its tenth anniversary. He set up a center for cooking classes and wine courses. Luís Américo runs three restaurants in the Oporto area. He also owns a consultancy company that advises hotels and restaurants.
The two Portuguese chefs took an interest in Macau during a visit three years ago. Their food presentation was included in a Food Festival at the Military Club, and was received with enthusiasm. “During the festival, the Hotel Royal owners went there several times and rather liked our food presentation. Four years ago the hotel had a Portuguese restaurant called Vasco da Gama but it was closed. They were looking for a different formula than the one that existed in Macau,” Luís Américo recalls to the Times. This “new formula” set up by the Portuguese chefs after a study of the local market, tries to avoid the counter effects of the “cuisine fusion that ended up by confounding Macanese and Portuguese cuisines.” They thought it made sense to bet on Portuguese cuisine in a fine dining environment, capable of reaching other audiences.
Before “Fado’s” opening in mid-May (currently only open for dinner), the chef’s had testing sessions over several weeks. Luís Américo says “it was very interesting, because people weren’t expecting to see Portuguese gastronomy presented in this way. There’s a lot of enthusiasm, people love the flavors and find it very agreeable.” The dining experience starts with traditional snacks, like rissoles, salt cod fritters, cheeses and sausages, that can be tasted in the communal tables, before the clients are seated. Gomes described the menu to include “several moments and presentations through the dinner,” and some plates are cooked in-front of the client, namely ‘Ameijoas à Bolhão Pato’ [clams] and ‘Bacalhau à Braz’ [cod baked with eggs and fried potatoes]. “The Asian market loves them and they are very simple to cook. We also want to demystify the work around certain recipes.”
Concerning deserts, Luís Américo says that the highlight are the typical Portuguese sweets “presented in a sophisticated way and other candies that are typical but quite unknown here like ‘Castanhas de Ovos de Viseu’ and ‘Areias de Cascais’.” A ‘Pastel de Nata’ [egg tart] is offered for costumers to take home and eventually “make the experience last until the following day.” The average price of a meal is MOP400 per person, but an executive menu, with several choices, will be available for lunch, is priced at MOP140.
The chefs do not plan to stay permanently in Macau, but their Macau partners intend to expand the Fado model to other cities such as Hong Kong and Shanghai. “Probably in the future we will spend part of our time here and part in Portugal. The opportunities here are completely different from those in Europe,” says Luís Américo, who complained that “the Portuguese government’s policies make it very hard to run a fine dining restaurant since taxes reached twenty three percent and there’s been a drop in consumption.”
(in MDT)