88 St. John Street, London, EC1M 4EH, 020 7253 6950, www.portalrestaurant.co.uk
I have to confess, I didn’t really know what Portuguese cuisine consisted of, bar sardines and bacalhau (salt cod). I thought maybe it might be a bit like Spanish, but then, isn’t that like saying Italian food is a bit like French? Sure, they share a border but so do many places with quite distinct cuisines. I do know that Portgal has always looked outwards rather than to its bigger neighbour. And it’s thanks to Vasco de Gama and his ilk that SE Asia and the Indian subcontinent have chilli, so it can’t be all bad.
Portal has had great word-of-mouth reviews and I suspected that the menu probably included bacalfau and sardines somewhere (gross stereotyping – moi?). The exterior certainly doesn’t give much away, just a low-key dark wood frontage with no indication of what to expect inside. And my word, what we saw was not what I expected at all.
The fado playing in the background and smart bar full of Portuguese wines and (of course) ports I expected. But once you got past the bar the restaurant expanded out in all directions. A high-ceilinged, dark-wood floored dining room stretched out in front of us with massive glass walls on two sides. There was a rare feeling of lightness and space. The juxtaposition of contemporary wood-and-glass architecture with 18th century brickwork was far more Iberian than English.
But would the food live up to its surrounds? Here Portal’s kitchen delivered. In spades. Spades, shovels and dumper trucks. It was one of those rare menus where something doesn’t leap out at you straight away. Not because there’s nothing there, but because all the options look appealing.
Slow cooked Bacalhau or Red Mullet with “Ros al Hanout”, Braised Bisaro (a rare-breed Portuguese pig-boar) or confit suckling pig? The choice was wonderfully hard and peering round at other peoples’ plates didn’t help one bit. It all looked (and smelt) so good.
The squid stuffed with monkfish and prawns was well balanced both in flavour and texture. The squid had been grilled to perfection and was all toothsome, silky-smooth tenderness while the fish and prawns added a sea-infused meatiness. Finely sliced squash, mushrooms and garlic lightly fried and dressed in soy added earthy notes to the maritime melody.
Grilled prawns and potato gnocchi came in a light, turmeric-infused curry sauce. This had a gently fragrant, spicy flavour redolent of what I imagine Portuguese Goa was like a century ago. The prawns were simply grilled in their shell and the gnocchi were airy and fluffy. There was a light touch behind this, and not afraid of adding a bit of zip.
Salty and tender suckling pig was the star. Coming apart at the touch of a fork it was tasty in an almost gamey way with very little fat. Just enough to add a slight moistness to the meat, and not overly rich. That light touch again. The sauce it came with was a wee bit too salty but that was easily solved by not having any. Frites were average though, more good oven chips.
Dessert presented more intriguing choices including a few, like Torta de Azeitão, I’d never heard of. I love it when that happens, it adds a little frisson of excitement to the ordering. We chose the aforementioned Torta, which was a light almond spongy almond roll – good but not great, Pasteis de Nata with Bulgari ice cream, and some sorbets, which were perfect: intensely fresh and fruity.
The Pasteis were two traditional custard tarts with a creamy yoghurt ice cream. These were so much more than just custard tarts. The pastry was flaky like filo and the filling… oh the filling… a light custard wobbling on the verge of liquidity. Portal must be, to paraphrase Special Agent Dale Cooper, where good custard tarts come when they die. The yoghurt ice cream was heavier, and a touch savoury in it’s dairy goodness. A perfect accompaniment.
I’m not really sure why Portal hasn’t been lauded to the skies by the critics – maybe it has and I just missed the fuss? Nevertheless, it holds its own against the heavywieght hitters of St John and Eastside Inn. In fact, the Portuguese food here adds a fresh and zippy counterweight to their flavoursome full English and subtle but strong French food. This quarter mile of Clerkenwell street probably serves more great food than any comparable stretch in London.
Portal is indeed a belting place – I went before Xmas. I wrote about it briefly but as it was a business lunch, I didn’t do the give it the full blog treatment ! I also had the suckling pig and the pasteis de nata and they were superb.
To be honest, I hadn’t heard of it when I went but apparently there was a bit of fuss about Portal about 5 years ago when a ‘listening device’ was found in the restaurant. The rumour was that it was to listen in on then Chelsea manager, Jose Mourinho who ate there regularly.
Ooooh – intrigue! I love a bit of intrigue with my supper – spices everything up in a whole new way… I didn’t realise it had been going that long, it might explain why i missed any fuss in the papers. But no paper reviews can sometimes be a good thing.
It’s strange that even though I have been there and really rate it I always “forget” to go and end up elsewhere instead… thanks for the reminder.
It’s that kind of place i think – no-one I’ve spoken to (you and Mr Noodles excepted) seems to know about it. Still, if it keeps a low profile, it won’t bother me too much, greedy sod that I am.
This is the second very good review of this place that I read, I should be trying it soon.
I would have been just as lost as you looking at the menu, in Brazilian Portuguese “Azeitao” means “big olive” so I would have expected an olive cake (not almond).
I love bacalhau though and make it at home sometimes, although it is a bit of a lottery as you never know how long to soak the fish for – if you soak it for too long, it becomes completely tasteless or too little, it is then too salty to eat! Pasteis de nata are my favourite little cakes, and perfect with coffee.
It’s definitely worth a try, although given the large tables of business folk we saw there, Thursday or Friday might not be the best nights.
Interesting about the Azeitao – the waiter (I think) said it meant almond which is interesting if it means big olive in Brazil. Maybe it was a nickname that turned into a label?
The wine we had was very good as well. They had a great selection of Portuguese bottles and once again, knowing little about Portuguese wines, I asked the waiter to recommend one – and he was spot on. It was a fruity Sauvignon Blanc type wine: “2008 Quinta da Lagoalva, ‘Talhão 1’”.
Bacalhau is something I would quite like to get my chops around sometime, but it’s a little way down the queue as I’m not a massive salty person. Be interesting to have it well prepared though.
Ah… a gem! It’s always nice to read about restaurants that don’t yet get their deserved attention. Great review, the toothsome, silky-smooth squid sounds like my kind of dish. I will be making my way to this place very soon.
@Kang It is a gem – and the more i talk/read/tweet about Portal, the more i realise that it is one BIG open secret – one of those, “it’s great but i don;t understand why no-one talks about it” kind of places. Everyone’s talking, no-one’s writing in the press about it.
And if you go – i thought the pork was better than the squid – it really was very good indeed, and the custard tarts are fantastic.