Last night in Albufeira, Portugal celebrated its first ever dedicated Michelin gala awards ceremony. This year the former shared Iberia guide, Spain/Portugal, has been separated, and there is now a dedicated Portugal guide.
New Michelin star recipients:
Porto’s Antiqvvm received its second star,
2 Monkeys in Lisbon received its first, as did Desarma in Madeira, O Balcão in Santarém and Sála by João Sá in Lisbon.
All of last year’s winners retained their stars (Eneko in Lisbon has closed).
It was slightly controversial and disappointing, as 2 Chefs were very hopeful for the 3d star they deserve, namely Hans Neuner at Ocean and José Avillez for Belcanto. But there are still no 3 stars in Portugal for some reason only known to Michelin…
Yes, Monchique,
I was reading about disappointing reactions to the awards ceremony and the comment of Jose Avillez regarding Belcanto:
This is in Spanish from El País
"“Nunca he visto la famosa lluvia de estrellas Michelin, pero creo que Portugal merecía más galardones de una, dos y tal vez tres estrellas, pero yo no soy inspector, soy cocinero y no tengo prisa”. “La vida es siempre una gestión entre la expectativa y la realidad. Sé que somos un tres estrellas en Belcanto y algún día llegará”
More or less this: “I’ve never seen the famous “rain of Michelin stars”, but I believe that Portugal deserved more 1, 2 and perhaps 3 star awards, but I’m not an inspector; I’m a cook and I’m not in a hurry. Life is always about managing expectations vs reality. I know that we’re a 3 star in Belcanto and someday it will arrive”.
I had dinner at “Ocean” the next day for a joint “5 stars” meal by Hermanos Torres from Barcelona and Hans Neuner and Hans was still fuming… but the dinner was out of this world!
Some photos on this site: https://www.facebook.com/PortugalConfidential
