Nuno Mendes, the traveling chef
Eating should be a show. It must be, especially today, now that the belt suffocates the calendar and May has forgotten the flowers on the floor of finance. That is why eating should be a dream, a dance, a -thousand- emotions disguised as pittance and served in blown glasses. It should be an opera that, following Cecil B De Mille's dictum, “begins like an earthquake and works its way up”. When it comes to the heart, more is always more.
The experience Traveler It begins in the portico of a palace (the entrance to the Town Hall Hotel in the East End of London is wonderful) betting on the smallest -which is so often the largest- and organic: wood, wax, essentiality and silence. A bare table and the start of a menu hard to forget: scallops with herbs from the London coast with a Jousset 'Premier Rendez-vous' from the Loire.
We eat and talk. Why Traveler, Nuno?
"Traveller is me. I was born and raised in Portugal and then at 19 I started traveling the world and learning about food, life and people. Viajante also symbolizes the experience we offer… A journey through the senses that takes our guests to memories of distant and foreign places".
And of course it's true. Eating is also remembering . Remember the places, flavors, nuances and emotions that marked the pages of our lives, those trips that we cannot (do not want) to forget. Like the sea bass with Japanese radish and the quiet tokay (Pince Kikelet) that accompanied it. Like the cod with onion, parsley and potatoes served with one of the wines of the night: Au Bon Ciimat 'Wild Boy' Chardonnay from Santa Bárbara. How (apparently) simple everything.
How simple (apparently) everything seems
Many things work well in Viajante. The tempo in the room, the warmth, the excellent sommelier, the hand of Nuno accompanying each dish (open kitchen), the harmony of what is eaten and drunk, the torrent of flavors; that never tires, that does not exhaust, that does not make the experience exhausting (a feeling, that of exhaustion, perhaps too present in today's haute cuisine) . Let's get on with the yeses. The absolute role of the sea (and its universe) in each dish. The herbs, plants and spices (fennel, coriander, dill, amaranth...) that illuminate each jewel. The roundness. Texture as a gastronomic conquest (texture as a sensation, as elaborate as taste, sight or smell) . The "easy" challenge.
It is not a bad challenge (the easy, the beautiful, the authentic). We talk about the future, where is the Viajante family headed?
"I hope to be able to travel for a while... Yesterday I was discussing with a friend the possibility of turning Viajante into a nomadic restaurant (and living up to its name). Three years in one part of the world, offering different experiences inspired by the place, the atmosphere and the local product, but staying true to our essence. That would be fun!"
And smile. And you understand that there are still things that are worthwhile. Like the pigeon pigeon, Chanterelle mushrooms and chestnuts that put an end to the party, like the Grenache that still whispers in the glass: Les Paradetes de Escoda-Samahuja. Like turning the pages of a book, like a loaf of bread with butter (the bread at Viajante is fantastic, by the way), the smell of fruit in wine, a drink of palo cortado as an aperitif, conversation after a meal, the desserts without haste; like the excitement before the next trip...
If I Survived One Meal From My Senior Year, It Would Be This . Faulkner wrote that one never heals from his past.
I wish.
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Traveler, British pleasure