It’s our final night in Portugal and my cousin is dying to eat at Mini Bar. He’s been before and he cannot stop raving about the food. There is slight twinkle in his eyes when talking about the food. I’m a little wary, sometimes when people hype up things so much the reality falls short — and I sincerely hope that this is not the case.
It’s a late reservation. The popularity of the restaurant means that we are either eating at 4 p.m. like senior citizens or at 9 p.m. (I guess very European) like 20 something year olds. We arrive at the building, which houses several of José Avillez’s restaurants and they’re busy. Every single table is occupied and at a few there’s a wait. I’m taking a gander at all the delicious food that’s on display, but my cousin immediately moves straight towards the back where, hiding behind a “hidden door” is the entrance to Mini Bar — well, it’s not so much hidden as if you don’t know to look (and/or distracted by the food, like I was), you can easily miss the door. Despite the large neon lighting.
The interior of the restaurant is hard to explain — it draws to mind Moulin Rouge circa the 1890s, while the artwork makes me think of Baz Luhrmann’s Moulin Rouge. They keep the lighting low and there is a stage, though when we are there no performance is happening. Even though we are eating quite late and have a reservation, we wait an extra half hour before we get our table. The staff feels bad so we are treated to a complementary “edible” cocktail — a literal rose with a single bite of a spicy rose margarita in the center. It is delicious and something that I would never have thought existed or possible (who thinks to make alcohol edible instead of drinkable?). It’s different for sure, like eating an alcoholic icy pop.
The food is designed to come in multiple courses and it’s recommended that we get an item or two per course — thus we are able to try a variety of the foods on the menu. We start with the Golden Hummus egg — it literally looks like delicate bird’s eggs sitting in a nest. So realistic that for a second, I think we made a mistake and ordered straight up eggs. I pop it in my mouth and the hummus starts to melt. So soft and savory. Well made and clean. We also opt for the roasted chicken skin with avocado cream, smoked cottage cheese and lemon. I have no idea what I was expecting, but it was not cracker thin chicken skin. It is however delicious and is not like any other chicken I’ve tasted before. It is far more delicate then one would imagine.
We follow that up with beef croquettes with truffle dijonaise and egg yolks, artichokes, parmesan and truffles. The egg yolks have been delicately cooked then drizzled in such a way that they are served as thin strands laying atop the artichokes with parmesan sprinkled on top. I’ve never seen eggs served this way. They are so delicate but packed with flavor. The beef croquettes are, however, surprisingly a bit of let down. They are still good, but compared to all the other dishes that have us salivating they pale in comparison.
We end the meal with the main show — a Beef Rossini with potatoes and a fried egg for me while my cousin orders a 60 Euro pasta. We really wanted to know what a 60 Euro (approximately 65 U.S. dollars) taste like. It tastes . . . like, well, normal pasta. Apparently it’s the scarlet shrimp that comes with it that makes it so special and pricy, but again, just tastes like shrimp.
The whole dinner is quite the experience and worth every Euro we spend. The food was delectable and presented in the most creative ways. It would be worth a return trip, to try other menu items and to see what changes each season.
