The Portugal News • 31 Jul 201052 goodfood
For those with a tastefor fine dining
Gourmet Portuguese andMediterranean cuisine
Open daily for dinner19h - 22h30
Reservations recommendedTel: 282 350 281Mob: 962 441 493 / 967 537 793
www.iguarias-apuradas.pt/restaurante-pimenta
Pestana Palm GardensVale de Centeans8400-525 Carvoeiro
Ristorante Pizzeria - Forno a Legna
La Mona Lisa
Open:12.00 - 3.00pm
duringsummer
and6.00 - 11.00pm
everydayexceptSunday
Vale Centeanes - Carvoeiro - LagoaTel. 282 358 724 Mobile 912 601 986
Campione MondialeCampione MondialeCampione MondialeCampione MondialeCampione Mondialedella Pdella Pdella Pdella Pdella Pizzaizzaizzaizzaizza
Follow the signs for Caliço Park fm the N125,5 mins inland from Manta Rota. 10 mins from Tavira.
For further Info contact Nichol or Sergioon 00351 927 363 356
ENTERTAINMENTDURING AUGUST
Mont´BeloRestaurantBarat Caliço ParkOpen Daily 10.30-23.00
Newly Refurbished & Under New Management
Daily specials withlamb shank,homemade fish andchips & homemadecheesecake.From 1pm Sundaywe are now servingSunday roast
for only €8.95!
Every Wednesday from8pm: Singer and Sax playerEvery Saturday Evening:Singing, fun & karaoke1st Sunday (each month):Craft Fair & Car Boot Sale
New Exciting Menu
Bistro Des Z’Artes, magical food whatever the moodWhile the Algarve is rapidly establishing itself as a sophisticated ‘foodie’ destination and home to seriouscontenders on the world’s cuisine scene, one unassuming restaurant in Almancil – dubbed the ‘Home ofGood Mood Food’ – is being hailed responsible for thrusting the town onto the region’s gastronomic mapthanks to its fabulous fare with a little Irish twist.
Dublin-born Jonnie Pratt tookover Bistro Des Z’Artes in Oc-tober 2008, assuming the daunt-ing role of both chef and patronof his first self-owned restaurant.
Dining at the Bistro is a bit likeconverting one’s living room intoan elegant venue for fine dining:cosy and comfortable, yet refinedand quite special.
The menu is designed to do onething: satisfy even the highest ex-pectations. That is also has ‘wowfactor’ is simply a derivative ofChef Jonnie’s innate talent.
The entire menu is of Jonnie’sdesign; he sources all of the ingre-dients himself and can frequentlybe seen at the local market scout-ing for the freshest, most succu-lent produce.
“I like to put a twist on every-thing, make it interesting but rec-ognisable”, he explains, acknowl-edging that, as chef and patron ofthe venue, “something that’sright is my doing but anything thatis wrong is my fault”.
As well as an Á la Carte menuthat is “tweaked” every few
months to showcase the bestseasonal produce, on Friday andSaturday nights a ‘Fresh ProduceMenu’ is available: a six-courseset meal for €18 per person (ex-cluding beverages).
The Fresh Produce Menuchanges weekly, offering an ex-citing line-up of unusual recipesat excellent quality for money.For example, on Friday and Sat-urday this week (July 30th and31st) the Menu will feature to-mato and basil tartlet, creamyvodka pasta bows with JohnKettleys smoked salmon, mintsorbet with chocolate andespumante, pan fried fillet ofseabream St.Tropezienne, ‘real’trifle, and coffee and petit fours.
The Á la Carte menu featurestantalising creations such aschilled pea & mint soup, ‘Theworld’s best ever tomato salad’,scallops with champagne, veg-etable cream and parfait ofchicken liver with muscatel jelly(for starters, while main mealsinclude giant prawns with Viet-namese slaw, pan fried pork fil-
let with plum brandy cream, andgrilled Argentinean strip loinsteak with dauphinois potatoes.
Desserts are all homemade andwickedly indulgent, and includelemon & almond parfait, roastfigs flambéed in Jameson’s whis-key with lemon sorbet, chocolatecoulant, and crème bruleé ‘MyWay’.
Chef Jonnie’s love of cookingwas already evident in childhood;“I started cooking with mymother and grandmother to raisemoney for the local Rugby club”,he says. But it was Japaneserestauranteur Akiko Hoashi,founder of the Ayumi Ya Japa-nese Restaurant, arguably themost famous Japanese restaurantin Ireland, who “lit a culinary fire”in Jonnie that still burns today.
After training at the DublinCollege of Catering and graduat-ing at the age of nineteen, Jonnieembarked on a career path that hasallowed him to travel the world,achieving several awards andmuch acclaim along the way.
These included cooking for oneof his idols, French chef andowner of the world-renowned,two-Michelin starred restaurant‘Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons’,Raymond Blanc.
In 1997 Jonnie took up the po-sition of Sous Chef in the famousShelbourne Hotel, Dublin, beforeworking at the Le MeridienPenina, Portugal, and later trav-
elling the Caribbean as SeniorSous Chef of the MV NorwegianSun on its maiden voyage.
In 2002 he was appointed Ex-ecutive Chef in The Safir DeiraHotel, a 5-star boutique hotel inDubai, before returning to Ire-land in 2003 as Executive Chef inthe Marriott Druids Glen wherehe won an award for Irish HotelRestaurant of the Year.
Jonnie went on to joinEurotoques, cooked at the pres-tigious James Beard Founda-tion in New York and also wonan award for culinary excellencefor Marriott International. Hemade numerous appearances asa TV chef and received many fa-vourable mentions in the pressas one of Ireland’s up and com-ing chefs.
But, according to Jonnie, Bis-tro Des Z’artes is by far his mostchallenging role to date.
“I do it for the thank yous”, helaughs, adding “knowing peoplehave enjoyed it, that’s whatmakes it all worth while”.
For more information on Bis-tro Des Z’arts, see:www.bistroalgarve.com. Foodintolerances and allergy suffersare catered for on request. Formore information or reservations(recommended, particularly for‘Fresh Produce Menu’ nights,phone: 919 407 366 or email:[email protected] Tuesdays.
Carrie-Marie Bratley
'The World'sBest Ever
Tomato Salad'
Jonnie shows off his skills in the Bistro kitchen
HomemadeLemon &
almond parfait
