BAHR

Lisbon, Portugal

Lisbon is a city with a restaurant scene defined by sticky-tabled pastelarias and linen-shrouded fine diners. Suave, sophisticated BAHR has recently sauntered into the space in between. More than 25 years after he left his home city, El Bulli-trained Nuno Mendes has returned, a prodigal son fresh from kitchens in London, New York and Asia. You can taste influences from all three in his multi-course menus, but traditional Portuguese techniques and unsung local ingredients remain the restaurant’s raison d’etre. Our meal begins with sourdough and a flocculent butter from the Azores, followed by amberjack carpaccio with pickled onions and a jubilant hit of orange zest. Next is glistening chorizo, to be scooped up with a hispi cabbage leaf and eaten with oily fingers; squid, sizzled for seconds on a josper grill and swimming in seaweed purée; and, finally, apple sorbet, fragrant with whisps of fennel frond. The team is young and talented, the riverfront terrace buzzing with well-heeled creatives sipping sparkling wine from DOC Vinho Verde, and the food, a tactile delight. bahr.pt

Words by Imogen Lepere

This review was taken from the April 2020 issue of Food and Travel.

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