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Fago no Marvão is a reference in signature cuisine, with its local flavors elevated to new heights of national cuisine.
What is the role of fermentation in your kitchen?
When I did an internship at the 108 restaurant in Copenhagen, belonging to the Noma group, I had an impactful first contact, in a professional context, with the most varied fermented foods. Not surprisingly, the first menu experiments, even before we opened the phage to the public, went through many fermentation tests. The phage cuisine revolves a lot around local recipes and local products. Being able to give the products, through fermentation, a new aromatic profile, allows me to multi-dimension these more traditional flavors. Lately, for example, we have been using a fermented prickly pear and Bravo-de-Esmolfe apples that complement some gnocchi with Alpalhão cheeses.
When did you first hear about kombucha?
I have always had a special interest in soft drinks and carbonated drinks. Finding in kombucha an equally tasty and healthy drink was a real discovery. In Copenhagen I had the opportunity to taste a wide variety of kombuchas, from artisanal to commercial. I think it was from there that I started to value it and to be an avid consumer. Discovering in Porto, where I was born and raised, Aquela Kombucha, was that love for life mixed with a little pride.
Why did you decide to integrate Aquela Kombucha into your gastronomic offer?
One of the pillars of the phage is based on a proposal of local flavors but with a greater lightness, which we do not always find in the most traditional cuisine. Being able to complement our menus with differentiated drinks with a more precise pairing potential, from natural wines to A’K kombuchas, for example, is an asset for us and our customers.
What is your favorite AK and why?
Tropical Citrus! I think it’s unanimous to all the staff of the phage. The aromas you can extract from the hops seem like pure magic to us. It is not surprising that, to decompress at night at the end of service, we are the most softcore cooks in the country and easily exchange a glass of wine or beer, for an A’K Citrus Tropical…
