Helana — Restaurant in Idanha-a-Nova

We visited this place tonight and being mushroom fans started of with the mushroom soup which was fantastic, however we feel now as if we were lulled into a false sense of security. My partner for main course thought she would have the ravioli but that was not available this evening so she chose the cannelloni. I ordered the chicken and rice but after being told by the waiter the rice was cooked in chickens blood i went with a vegetable burger with mushrooms and veg with a side order for two of batata fritters because we like chips (uk style) When our food arrived we were surprised at the speed it was brought out. Usually good food in Portugal takes a time and no sooner had we spooned up the last of our starters our mains arrived. We are not impressed. My food consisted of 2 veggie burgers in bread crumbs which reminded me of a land mine it was that hard plus after i had managed to cut into it i found it very globby, thankfully i had some coffee left to swill it down which was handy but i had left the coffee as it was very bitter and had not wanted it but it probably saved my life. I swiftly moved on to the veg which was a mish mash of cold greasy objects. It consisted of (and i say this in earnest...its not a joke) the tip of a small carrot, a mix of cold oil covered mushroom that resembled pixie caps or to us welsh magic mushrooms and a brussel sprout cut in half two slices of courgette ( well i think they were but had the texture of an off cut of wood) and something else we could not make out although one thing i was sure of it was cold and broccoli which was over cooked, cold and greasy. My partners cannelloni resembled lasagne in a pool of sloppy cheese and the pasta sheet was so sloppy it fell apart once she managed to get it on the fork. Actually i mused that she may had been better off to use a spoon or perhaps a straw. I gave up on my main as i was feeling a bit iffy after gulping down one veggie burger complete with that wash down of bitter coffee and my better half left most of hers too but hey...there was a dessert so we decided to try that out seeing as all the desserts are made by geocakes and if we were lucky our growling stomachs would become silenced with delight. There was no dessert menu but the waiter had 5 digits on one hand to count off what desserts were on tonight...being adventurous i went with the Idanha a nova traditional pudding made from eggs and cream with dried fruit and my lovely partner stuck with a gateaux ....hmmm Well i was delighted with what i had although it was very sweet and the dried fruit as it turned out were 4 raisins topped with half a walnut but the pot it came in was very cute and it was a delight to eat its contents. The chocolate gateaux was a small chocolate fairy cake that had a tepid chocolate sauce inside with strawberry sauce, a bit like you get to go on a icecream. Desserts were small but lovely and it filled a gap until we got back home. A few last things to say on the place is that the decor was really nice and reminded us of a castle and it looked lovely and clean but we didnt use the toilets so we cant comment but what we did notice on the way out was some books on a shelf and the one that made us laught the most was..a cook book by Chef Gordon Ramsay. (I dont think this book had been read) All in all we thought it was expensive for what we had but the soup and desserts were lovely so go give it a try if you dont mind cold food and bitter...

C’est simple, c’est l’exemple même de ce que devrait être un restaurant. Du choix et de la qualité dans l’assiette, dans les détails, dans le service et dans la présentation, des plats aux recettes recherchées, mais accessibles et savoureux. Des assiettes copieuses, mais sans exagération. Le cadre est délicieusement rustique et soigné, dans une décoration sans fioritures inutiles. Les murs en pierres apportent une fraîcheur naturelle à la salle. Un détail qui m’a marqué était la luminosité qui, simplement, était parfaite. Nous reviendrons pour ces escalopes de poulet à la mangue, ou ces petites escalopes de porc à la truffe. Les légumes étaient frais et excellents. Les entrées traditionnelles n’étaient pas, comme c’est souvent le cas, juste un moyen d’augmenter la note, comme le pratiquent souvent les restaurants au Portugal. Les desserts somptueux, étonnants et exquis : brochette de fruits frais à la crème brûlée et tarte au citron sicilien sur biscuit et meringue. Sans aucun doute, une de mes plus belles expériences gastronomiques...

Deixo abaixo a minha apreciação de há 5 anos e fica agora a de hoje, 5 de Outubro de 2023:

"Só um bocadinho". Ouvimos isto mais de dez vezes entre ambos os rapazes que estavam a servir e com o restaurante vazio. Só os vimos a eles, não há uma face do novo Helana. Manteve o nome mas descaracterizou a carta, nem um único prato charneira ou entrada. Adeus migas de ovos com espargos ou outra entrada de ovos com verdes fora da época de espargos, adeus arroz de cabidela como prato da lista, adeus tarte de chocolate com amoras. Tudo muito mais caro, embora pratos entre o razoável e o bom. A única mudança positiva foi a decoração, o restaurante ficou mais leve e aberto, ou seja, ainda mais bonito. Mas não apetece voltar. Talvez daqui a algum tempo tentemos fazer as pazes. Gostávamos de sentir que ainda somos os velhos clientes de há vinte anos.

"Local mítico, de grande qualidade e a bom preço, sempre, os melhores ovos com espargos, o melhor bacalhau em papelotes, o melhor arroz de cabidela, o melhor serviço da dona...