we read that jose avillez is one of the most respected chef in portugal, has 4 restaurants in the chiado, and belcanto has earned 2 michelin stars, the first in 2012.

so we made reservation at the next best thing, cantinho do avillez, his canteen on the next road, for more casual dining & easy on the wallet evening outing on 28.3.2016. ^^

daughter wasn’t keen so we went with son for 3pax dinner. 🙂

restaurant was like fully booked & people were waiting at the bar area drinking & then brought to the tables.

there was a cover charge of €2.85pax.

quite ok as we were served nice bread with something like a bearnaise buttery dip.

can’t remember what it was, but it was good with the bread.

tuna tartare was with asian sauce.

tasted ok to me, but a far cry from what we had the day before at mercado timeout market la…

heavy & earth i should say both in taste & even in presentation.

wife was totally unimpressed.

scallop ceviche was better. but again quite ordinary.

of course it’s still cheaper than an equivalent dish in a good restaurant in singapore. anyway, so so la…

pretty good dish for me. the trotters were like deboned, so only left the gelatinous gummy skin etc.

i should say a tasty dish & something i liked & easy to eat…

son had the lamb.

he certainly liked it. i didn’t mind it too.

but it was like just ok-ish.

for example, the likewise middle-eastern braised lamb shoulder preparation at honey & co london was WAY better than this la…

i wanted the alentejano black pig this time. it was good too, charred & flavourful.

but we just had the black pig risotto at scaramento the evening before, & that was considerably better, and came with a very good standard mushroom risotto to boot.

wife had the grilled scallops for main (top photo),

clearly competent, and a fair portion. a good main nothing to complain about.

the bill came to €115 for 3pax including bottle of wine.

it’s about same price as what we paid for 4pax at sacramento.

 

ok maybe we were too critical..to be fair food was competent & not really mediocre but just overrated & underwhelming…basically better & cheaper elsewhere la..

quality, quantity, price, overall experience not 1/2 as good as at Sacramento last evening la.

overall, it was still a good meal for me only unimpressed, unlike say at scaramento, mercado ribeira timeout market, & later at DOP in porto.

c.h.e.f andy

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Cantinho do Avillez
+ 351 21 199 23 69
Rua dos Duques de Bragança, 7
1200-162 Lisboa

Opening hours:
Monday to Friday: 12.30-15.00 and 19.00-00.00
Saturday and Sunday: 12.30-00.00
Closed on public holidays: For dinner 24 December and all day 25 December