Portugese food intrigues me, I've never had it before and didn't know what to expect.
Taberno is probably the furthest you could get away from Firehouse, which I'm sure was a very conscious decision. The restaurant decor is very simple: whitewashed, wooden tables and spindly chairs. It's all about the food here.
There are small thoughtful touches everywhere, a wall of Portugese produce on shelves at one end of the restaurant; menus that hang from the table; and all Portugese wines, a great little discovery, as Portugese wines are fantastic!
We started with pickled mussels, coming in a homemade tin, a very cute idea. These were good, but not extremely memorable. There were plenty more options of pickled tinned fish, perhaps I just chose the wrong one.
We also had tempura green beans. Tempura started in Portugal - can you believe it?! My half-Japanese boyfriend was dumbfounded. These were delicious, as good as a tempura I've had in Koya. Crispy and not at all greasy, there was also a salty broth in the bottom of the bowl. Make sure the waiters don't take away the bowl until you've mopped up all that juice!
The next fantastic thing we ate were prawn rissoles, a sort of deep fried prawn empanada. Take a bite (be careful, they are so hot!) and the prawn gushes out as a liquid with a deep, rich flavour. Much stronger than the normal prawn. It was a delight to eat (once it had cooled down) and completely unexpected.
This was the cuttlefish and pig trotter. Light but sweet, rich and delicate all at the same time. Not one of the outstanding dishes in my opinion, but nice nonetheless.
We weren't going to order the beef bifana, essentially a Portugese sandwich, but were swayed by the waiter. And I'm so glad we were. This was so much more than a sandwich! Beef, with fermented prawn paste and wild garlic. The beef was so tender and they were cooked on the grill outside the restaurant, overseen on this night by Nuno himself. The bring over some mustard along with it, which I heartily added, making all the flavours explode even more.
We finished with an incredible olive oil cake. It's served still in it's cooking paper and essentially you just scoop it out of the paper. It is so moist, almost soggy with olive oil, but still so light. This dessert is for two people, but I could have happily had it for myself. It has this almost thick flavour due to the olive oil which I couldn't get enough of. I loved it, and there was no chocolate in sight.
One of my favourite meals of the year.
Food 7.5/10
Atmosphere 8/10
Service 10/10
Overall 8/10
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