We recently flew to our apartment in Lisbon arriving on the morning of November 11th, which is our wedding anniversary. However, knowing that we would be exhausted from flying overnight and likely would not get any useful sleep, we decided to celebrate the following evening. I had booked a table at Fogo that I had read about in the Michelin Guide and it just so happens that the restaurant is only a 12-minute walk from our apartment. Fogo, which means fire in Portuguese, really exemplifies the soul of this restaurant. Many of the meat, seafood, starters and side dishes are cooked in the visible open-fired grill. Not only is the atmosphere comfortable and inviting but the aromas that the wood-fired grill produce makes your mouth water! We started with a bottle of Ouro do Meio Reserva from Portugal’s Douro Valley. While we do not consider ourselves wine connoisseurs, we do love Portuguese wine and it was especially wonderful with the food we ordered. We started with the bread service which included crusty sourdough and a very thinly sliced cornbread complimented by olive oil, butter containing pork fat, roasted red peppers and pickled carrots, horseradish and cucumbers. Honestly we could have stopped here and been 100% content. Next we enjoyed the fish tartare with amberjack, fresh dill and topped with micro-planed grapes. For our main course, we ordered the T-bone steak grilled to medium rare which came with a very tasty yet simple potato salad and some spicy kimchi. Our server also recommended their house specialty, Arroz de Forno, a traditional baked rice. Each dish was delicious on its own but the potato salad and kimchi nicely complimented the perfectly grilled steak. The rice, cooked in a cast iron pan in the wood-fired oven, was crispy on top and super creamy underneath. We thought we could not eat anything else but our server recommended his favorite dessert…the Pao de Lo Humido, a Portuguese sponge cake that has been around since the 1700’s. Ours was presented similar to a custard with gelato, olive oil and salt…a delicious treat especially paired with our espresso. Fogo, being located so close to the apartment, we look forward to trying some of the other menu options including the tasting menu.
Myers Bites the World 