Our last dinner in Lisbon was at Cantinho do Avillez, a restaurant serving a fusion of traditional and modern Portuguese cuisine.
The meal began with partridge pies (above, left), and homemade preserved tuna with lime and ginger mayonnaise. The pie crust was flaky and the minced meat inside had a melt-in-your mouth quality. The homemade tuna was nice, but a less chunky serving size would have made each piece more flavourful.
These appetisers were followed by the marinated scallops with avocado (above). We expected the scallops to at least be seared, so even if there wasn’t anything wrong with the dish, it wasn’t really to our liking.
The baked nisa cheese with candied ham and rosemary honey (above), on the other hand, was a firm favourite that evening. There must have been at least three types of cheese inside, and the sweet and savoury contrast provided by the ham was addictive.
We though that the Prego Steak (above) would be served on a sizzling plate, so we were surprised to see a steak sandwich instead. Though the steak, which was smeared with butter and garlic, was delicious, this dish felt more like lunch instead of dinner.
Satisfying our sugar cravings was this dessert called Hazelnut3. It was a sweet combination of hazelnut ice-cream and hazelnut-flavoured whipped cream, which were both topped with ground hazelnuts. We really did enjoy this number. Perhaps next time they can make a “Hazelnut4”, which would include a generous dollop of Nutella!
