After retaining its Michelin star for the 7th consecutive year, Bon Bon restaurant is ready to delight guests with new flavours

– April 7, 2022

Bon Bon has maintained its star for seven years on the trot, the only one-Michelin-star restaurant in the region to do so. Owner Nuno Diogo celebrated the restaurant’s accomplishment: “It is an award that leaves us proud, but that should also leave Lagoa proud for having a restaurant of unmatched quality,” he said.

“I also want to thank chef José Lopes, our whole team at Bon Bon and those who contributed to its success with commitment, creativity and sacrifice,” the owner added.

Last year, Nuno Diogo called on chef José Lopes to join the team. At the time, the young chef was at Lisbon’s Eleven restaurant, where he was working with Michelin-favourite chef Joachim Koerper. “His cuisine is consistent, full of flavour, and varied,” said Nuno.

The creative chef enjoys looking for Portuguese roots to add to his cooking. His latest creation is a chickpea stew with a rack of lamb, based on a recipe he found in an old Algarvean cookbook his wife gave him. Timing is also fundamental to guarantee Michelin-level service. Bon Bon only accepts three bookings every half hour, to ensure clients don’t all arrive at the same time, and has no more than eight tables, not to ruin the ambience. This isn’t something new that came with COVID; it’s something we’ve always done,” insists Nuno.

For his part, he enjoys surprising his clients with unique pairings, adapting his choice to their mood and taste, with a selection of rare wines made by small producers. “What I want is for each person to leave with a complete experience, feeling fulfilled.”

How can they not in this unique octagonal dining room with a suspended central fireplace, where Nuno and his team produce their show? Where tables strategically placed under spotlights turn into a stage on which dishes consistently waltz, paired with singular wines.

Visit Bon Bon‘s website.

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Chef Hans Neuner from the prestigious two-Michelin star restaurant Ocean at Vila Vita Parc Resort in Porches has been awarded a ‘Platinum Fork’ for the third year straight in Expresso’s ‘Boa Cama Boa Mesa’ restaurant-hotel guide. The resort also received a ‘Platinum Key’ in the hotel category of the awards.

“This prize is recognition of the dedication and work of the whole team, which every day wants to perfect its knowledge about the country’s products and gastronomy and give them a stage to be presented on in their simplest form to all those who visit us,” the chef said in a statement to the press.

Neuner received the ‘Platinum Fork’ award for the first time in 2012, when the category was first introduced.

The award ceremony, held on Monday (June 14) at Quinta da Pimenteira in Lisbon, was led by Pinto Balsemão, president of Grupo Impresa which owns Expresso newspaper.

Ocean reopened in April with a new menu inspired primarily by the islands of the Azores, Madeira and São Tomé e Príncipe.

“Last year, Chef Hans Neuner surprised everyone with a trip around the country with the ‘À Descoberta de Portugal’ (Discovering Portugal) menu, which is now followed up by the ‘Edição das Ilhas’ (Islands Edition) menu,” said the resort at the time.

The new menu features a series of “charismatic dishes, typical ingredients and new rich flavours” from Portugal’s two archipelagos and the former Portuguese colony, but also from other parts of the country and other former colonies such as Cape Verde.

The Algarve town of Lagos inspires the first course of the meal with a combination of mackerel, tomato and basil, followed by a plate of Azores clams.

The list goes on and on, with other dishes including rump steak served with the Azores’ typical ‘bolo lêvedo’ (a sweet muffin-like bread), Madeira cheese served with ‘pitanga’ (also known as Suriname, Brazilian or Cayenne cherry) and apple, or São Tomé pork served with sweet potato and cinnamon.

All in all, there are 15 gastronomic “moments” to enjoy, each inspired by a different location.

According to the resort, the menu “respects” the seasonal quality of the products used, “not only because it is part of its sustainability philosophy, but also because it ensures the quality and authenticity of the flavours”.

The menu costs €210 per person, with wine pairing courtesy of sommelier Ricardo Rodrigues costing €140 per person.

Reservations can be made on the restaurant’s website (restauranteocean.com) or by telephone (+351 282 310 100).

Vila Vita Parc’s two-Michelin-star Ocean restaurant reopened on July 1 with a new menu that celebrates “typical Portuguese flavours, ingredients and recipes from all over the country” and highlights the “diverse richness of the Portuguese gastronomy.”

Says the resort, the new menu will take diners on a “gastronomic journey through Portugal, discovering a colourful array of regional and national dishes”.

It features seven dishes, each inspired by Chef Hans Neuner’s “research tour of the country’s many culinary corners”, which saw him meeting with many producers throughout the last few months, dining at their homes and swapping stories and culinary secrets.

Notable new additions to the menu include the typically Portuguese “Papas de Milho”, the “Vila Real de Santo António Tuna”, the “Fried Cuttlefish with Ronaldo Rice” from Setúbal, the “John Dory Bulhão Pato Style” from Lisbon, and the “Scarlet Atlantic Prawn with Squid and Bacon”.

“Each dish is the result of extensive research and experimentation by a curious and dedicated team, always in direct and daily contact with local producers,” says the resort.

The wine selection focuses on “unique and exclusive vintages made by small national and international producers”. Sommelier Ricardo Rodrigues is in charge of wine pairing.

According to the resort, the new tasting menu “not only respects the seasonality of the products, but also highlights the sustainable philosophy at Vila Vita Parc, which is a guarantee of quality and freshness”.

Many of its vegetables, meat and wines originate from Herdade dos Grous, the resort’s 780-hectare sister property, located just over an hour’s distance away in the Alentejo. The fish is caught along the Portuguese coast.

The tasting menu costs €195 and offers a wine pairing option for €125. Bookings can be made through the restaurant’s website or by phone.

Ocean is open Wednesdays to Sundays from 7pm to 10pm.

+351 282 310 100
www.restauranteocean.com

Chef Louis Anjos takes the reins at Carvoeiro’s Michelin-starred Bon Bon restaurant

The only restaurant in the Carvoeiro area with a Michelin star, awarded in 2016, Bon Bon has placed the town firmly on the gastronomic map, and owner Nuno Diogo has plans to build on the reputation with important changes taking place this year. Exit chef Rui Silvestre, who has moved on to pursue his own projects, and enter one of Portugal’s most promising up-and-coming chefs, Louis Anjos.

Anjos, who until recently was executive chef at the Macdonald Monchique Resort & Spa, already has some impressive awards to his name, to which he plans to add retaining the star at Bon Bon in next year’s Michelin guide. After starting his Algarve career in the kitchens of Vila Vita Parc, he moved on to Suites Alba Resort & Spa, where his creative cooking saw him win the national Chef of the Year award (Chefe Cozinheiro do Ano) in 2012. Whilst at Macdonald Monchique, he gained recognition for the hotel’s Mon-Chic restaurant last year, winning the Revelation of the Year award from one Portugal’s most important gastronomic guides – Boa Cama Boa Mesa , published by Expresso newspaper.
Alongside him at Bon Bon is sous-chef Ricardo Silva Luz who, before working with Anjos in Monchique, already had Vila Vita Parc, the Penha Longa Resort and a spell at the old Tavares Rico restaurant in Lisbon, under Portugal’s most famous chef José Avillez, on his résumé.
Bon Bon’s kitchen is in very good hands and the team is making some changes that should be well received by customers. Most importantly, the restaurant has introduced an à la carte menu to operate alongside the tasting menu options. The restaurant is now also open on Saturdays and Sundays for lunch.

Text: Patrick Stuart