(Daily Mail) Restaurant bread is traditionally a sideshow, an hors d’oeuvre – a nibble-y served-in-a-basket preamble to the main event.
But does it have to be? It’s a question that Pedro Pena Bastos, Executive Chef at Michelin-starred restaurant Cura, asked himself. And the answer he came up with was an emphatic ‘no’. (Or more likely ‘não’, as he is, after all, Portuguese.)
At contemporary Cura, part of the ultra-luxurious Four Seasons Hotel Ritz Lisbon, bread is a star in the 13-course, 185-euro (£160/$195) ‘Origens’ tasting menu, as I discovered.
And believe me, it deserves to be centre-stage.
A little basket of rustic wheat bread and a loaf of milk bread – with aged butter garnished with smoked hay powder and Portuguese olive oil produced by Pedro’s family – form course No.7 and they’re spellbindingly moreish.
It’s bread elevated to gourmet status.
Ted Thornhill dined at Michelin-starred Cura, located on the lobby floor of the ultra-luxurious Four Seasons Hotel Ritz Lisbon
Crumbs! Bread is a star in the 13-course, 185-euro (£160/$195) ‘Origens’ tasting menu. Pictured right is the tuna tartare
The bread course (above) comprises rustic wheat bread, a loaf of milk bread, aged butter garnished with smoked hay powder and Portuguese olive oil
Ted writes: ‘We were transfixed by the restaurant’s gastronomic offerings.’ Above – the lobster and chickpea course
Pedro tells MailOnline: ‘Our bread at the restaurant is made with milled grains, especially ancient varieties of wheat and malted ones, too, that give our bread much more flavour and texture. Then it ferments for 24 hours of cold proofing, and it’s baked just before the service.’
The accompanying cold-pressed olive oil, he adds, is ‘bread’s best friend’.
Leading up to the loaves were half a dozen dishes that set out Pedro’s stall as a chef of some considerable talent.
Above us were striking Dali-esque lampshades resembling a sequence of misshapen letters.
They’d be a talking point at lesser restaurants. And so would the eye-catching banquette we were seated at, with its distinctive tubular cushion.
