LUNCHEON  "O LEÃO DE PORCHES"

February 9th, 2013

FLYER            MENU

As previously announced our first event will be a gourmet luncheon at the cosy/gemütlich old style Portuguese restaurant "O Leao de Porches" next to the old Church in the centre of Porches and the Flyer is enclosed as an attachment. The restaurant is owned and managed by the vivacious, ambitious and competent Bianca Salden, who will be our host for the lunch. Bianca, a Belgian lady, comes from a family in Antwerp who have been in the gastronomic and hotel business all of their lives and Bianca learnt the trade working in the restaurant of her mother before moving on to a brewery, representing beer brands and working with restaurants. Beer is the staple drink in Belgium. In late 2004 Bianca decided to move to Portugal and worked at the "O Leao de Porches" restaurant before taking it over at Easter 2005. In the meantime Bianca has managed to raise the gastronomic level of the restaurant to a very high standard. In 2012 the well known and excellent Chef George Tannock joined the restaurant for a few months before returning to London. During this period he managed to help her two young Portuguese Chefs raise the standard even higher.

The two Chefs are Pedro Luis and Daniel Inacio. Pedro began his career in the early nineties. He started in summer jobs before commencing a 3 year training course including practical training at Vila Vita Parc  which he joined on the completion of his formal training. Subsequently in 1999 he moved on to the 5* Pestana Alvor Hotel, Gourmet restaurant Bica do Sapato and the Grande Real Sta.Eulalia in Albufeira. In 2006 he became Chef at the Colina and Pimenta Preta restaurants in Carvoeiro before his last stop at the 5* Hotel Bela Vista in Praia da Rocha. During his career he has attended various cooking and sommelier courses in Portugal and one in Finland as well as working for shorter periods in Michelin * restaurants (Northcote Manor *, in Lancashire, UK and Chèvre d´Or  ** , Monaco).

Daniel spent 3 years from 2009 onwards training in Portimao before obtaining the Lausanne hotelier certificate. As part of his training period he worked at the 5* Vale Da Lapa Resort and at the 5* Vila Vita Parc. Subsequently in 2012 he worked on the BMW project at the Sheraton Pine Cliffs hotel before joining "O Leao de Porches".

Both Pedro and Daniel are not only very ambitious and competent but have lots of ideas and are always proactively looking to improve their dishes and the tastes. Our V.Echanson and I had an excellent "test" dinner and we were both very impressed by the three menus that Pedro and Daniel proposed for our lunch and we have chosen one suitable for the Algarvian winter. The wines which are extremely exquisite to complement the exciting menu have been selected by our wine connisseur and V.Echanson, Rod Frew from the Decante Vinhos selection of Américo Maia in Alcantarila.