We arrived in Porto for the first visit ever there and fell in love
immediately.
We were invited for an amazing port tasting (many bottled will come home
with us!) and the on to lunch at the new 5-star luxury Relais et Chateaux hotel,
The Yeatman.
The hotel is built above the port houses facing the city on the south side
of the Douro river, and before we even began to eat lunch we had decided to
return next year!
After tasting, something refreshing was in order and a PortTonic is my new
dream drink made from lesser cost CHIP DRY white port and tonic with a splash of
lemon. In the 90 degree heat, this is the new cooler. Breads arrived and Samuel
could not decide between white, cereal, olive, raisin and lavosh....so we all
tried several. The butter was creamy and olive oil also arrived. The first
amuses were a crunchy corn cone filled with guacamole, crab mousse and caviar in
a cute cork container (remember that most cork comes from Portugal!). By its
side was a slate slab with 3 amuses: rice crunchy cracker with quail egg,
bruschetta (a flat bread) with sardine and fried tomato and cheese, and a fish
tartare with lobster and micro greens over a chex-like cracker with caviar and
yuzu.
Tapada do Chaves 2010 white from the southern region of Alentejo was a
dream white. Each wine we had tasted all day sent us to heaven and we were so
sad to only have two days in Portugal to experience all the amazing food and
wine; hence the return plane next summer.
Express Lunch as it is called at this Michelin starred establishment is
nothing like express. It isn't 6-10 courses, just four, but it's amazing.
After the amuses we moved on to TUNA & CRAB which was Crab cannelloni,
cured tuna, molecular mozzarella and green tomato broth. I am not sure what the
molecular was as the cheese tasted authentic, but the flavors in the dish were
sublime.
The main courses were BLACK CODFISH roasted with shrimp, brandade and
bivalves. Need I say more as cod is the national dish and here it was served
brilliantly.My main was the BLACK PORK which I had heretofore thought only came
from the south of France. WRONG! Black Pork is the famous pig that generates all
the wonderful Jamon Iberico...but here it was Confit of Cheek, Roasted
Tenderloin, Cured ham,Pearl Barley and Pisto. It was coarsely salted a bit too
much for my taste, but what amazing meat it was. A Quinta da Cassa Reserve 2007
from the Douro region (where port is made just upriver and we will visit further
next year for sure) was made from the amazing local varietals of Touriga
Nacional, Tourriga Franca and Tinta Roriz.
You need to go back to wine school to learn the hundreds of grape varietals
there are in Portugal!
Dessert was a blow your mind yet oh so simple CHEERY CLAFOUTI with Cherry
Confit, Rum/Raisin Ice Cream (haagen dasz eat your heart out) and Vanilla &
Honey Soup. Coffee was superb---we needed it to continue our tour, and then
Raspberry filled Chocolate Macaroons, White Chocolate Passion Fruit Filled
treats and tuilles with Chocolate Truffles all arrived to our delight. Not one
was left!
The YEATMAN is a place where you can go for lunch or dinner or to the hotel
for an amazing experience which we intend to do next year. All my clients will
be directed here without any doubt they will be totally satisfied as we
were.
