Terminal 4450 — Restaurant in Matosinhos

It is always pleasent to find new places to go out and enjoy an amazing meal...and this is the case.

Altough it is a little bit distant from the Porto city center it is quite quick to get there and believe me, it deserves every minute of the time invested to get there.

Included in the maritime area of Leixões, in the harbour, the first nice suprise goes to the building...on the outside and on the inside. A former cruise terminal now converted in a pleasent and trendy spot, to have a meal or just a drink, staged with all the proper decorations to emerge the client in the former travel rush of the time.

The food...from the appetizers to the desert where all spot on in terms of flavour and presentation.

It all started with a mix of butter, a pot of olives and feta cheese served with a different range of breads and a cup of popcorns...yes popcorns...aromatized with some herbs...disruptive and tasty...

And then the meat arrived...yes this is mainly a place to eat meat...you have other offers but the core is meat...and it was amazing!! Cooked beautifully the meat was delicious and the side dishes just elevated even more every bite that was given on the main course.

To close the desert...nothing to complicated and fancy but yummy for sure! They mainly picked up some classic sweets and reinvented and adapted them to become proper deserts that can be classified as the missing link...the piéce de resistance to close what it was a fantastic experience. I order a classic cake, Bola de Berlim, reinvented with a different and tasty filling.

From the space to the food, passing trough the service, more and more for me one concept comes up to the table...keep it simple, keep it clean but demand quality and joy in what you deliver to the client and you will be celebrated in the end with a smile of pure satisfaction...and this is the case. Now it just to maintain the level and keep the ball rolling...always up!

A must go when visiting...

This is my highest rating for a restaurant in Porto to the moment. The barley mushroom "risotto" was borderline perfect (what do I know?! But I'm thinking a touch of acidity or perhaps a more pronounced herbal presence would have made it legendary) - the mushrooms fresh and slightly cooked, the barley almost Al dente, a touch of stock made it wet but not soupy, the coriander cress a crystal Touch of pure rawness herbal power, and them truffle oil... The most ignominious of ingredients , but this time perfectly measured and originally (for me) tempered with a hint of spiciness I do not know the origin. I never thought to pair truffle mushroom with 🔥 but it was a revelation. A lot of subtlety and talent in this kitchen. Everything was technically very well executed, the ingredients were solid and the creativity applied like a seasoning without ego. Salt on the spot. Portions accurate. The mushroom Brás was another surprise for it's subtle fat content and huge mushroom stardom. The black beans were meant to be as they were. The meat was average (picanha, costeletão and rump) but I guess this was a group menu, no matured meat and Portuguese meat tends to be quite underwhelming anyway. For me what really heightened the experience , besides the godly presence of beautiful souls around me, was the service. Clockwork was almost magical, but the communication between the staff ... One request came through another waiter in just a minute. And another. And another . No arrogance, just confidence and service , pleasure in service. Pleasure in being of service. Beautiful...

Another hidden, or not so visible, restaurant in Leça da Palmeira with a great view to the harbor. The atmosphere is fantastic, sending us to a cruise terminal. The staff is friendly and professional, always paying attention to the customers. Our menu was the suggestion of one of them and, overall, was really good! We started with the “Roast Beef Bread” that, not only looked good but also tasted really good, follow by “Grilled Pork Ribs”. These one were a bit dry but still tasted nice. Being a sharing portion, should be served with cutlery so we don’t need to use our own! For main course, and also a suggestion from the staff, the “Black Angus Beef”. The beef was medium cooked, as we asked. It came with “Mushrooms Brás”, “French Fries” and “Mashed spinach”. All of them tasted good! Again, being a sharing portion, the cutlery was missing…! To finish, we decided to ask for only one dessert. The Choise was “The Berliner”. When it arrived, we were pleased to see that choosing only one was the right choice! It’s BIG!!! Super tasty, soft, sweet enough tin a salted caramel bed that balanced the sweetness of the Berliner. Very pleased to get the chance to try this restaurant, that I really recommend and that I’ll be back...