Vista — Restaurant in Portimão

Best restaurant of the Algarve!! The estate has a beautiful front garden and a magnificent garden with a large terrace at the rear with amazing ocean view!!

Vista Restaurant is part of the Bela Vista Hotel & Spa and is located in the lively center of Portimao, and on the Praia da Rocha. You cannot imagine a better restaurant!

There are only 12 tables on the terrace, for the beautiful summer evenings, with an overview of the garden, the boulevard, the beach and the ocean… There are only 6 tables inside. So book on time...

There is also a beautiful cocktail bar and an attractive lounge with a fireplace. It feels homely, and that is not surprising, if you thank that this hotel villa was once built as a residence..

You will be welcomed in the lounge, followed by a kitchen tour and you will meet chef João Oliveira and his team. A unique experience. Strange that not all top restaurants do that. That makes the experience very personal!

Then you get a tour through the wine cellar with more than 800 types of wine from all over the world. "But most of it from Portugal", my hostess says proudly.

The restaurant has one Michelin Star, but I think a second start will come soon..

The 1st top amuzes are also served in the wine cellar, by the chef who made them himself. How fun!! And all the ingredients they use are organic! Top!

There are 6 tables in the restaurant, with a view of the ocean. Beautiful, and if it is warm enough, you can eat outside.

You can choose the regular tasting menu (200 euros) or the vegan tasting menu (175 euros). Wine supplement 110, euros :

We start with a delicious full Douro,

Then the next top amuse-bouche, of cucumber, is served.

Followed by a delicious couvert, with olive oil from the owner's olive grove, fresh bread, smoked soy butter. Cucumber Pickles and vegan fishcake.. Life can be so good..

Refreshing soup that is put together at the table, fun and delicious!

Watermelon in a delicious way, orgasmic!

Beetroot ravioli with ginger filling, oliebol with divine vegan cheese spinach filling

All equally tasty, nice little flavor explosions!

Then a delicious white chardonnay, 2004, inland Portugal, rich in taste.

Celery ravioli with spicy Thai sauce

Chef will bring black sweet potato himself, with sauce from the skin. 10/10.

He has been working here for 8 years now. Unfortunately they don't do lunch here, but in their bistro, with the same kitchen team

Young broccoli on a bed of smoked green peas

Main course: perfect lentil dish with foam of fried onions. Yum!!

Beautiful and tasty dessert amuse with orange tree..

Because the dessert of apple and avocado was disappointing to me, another, very tasty, 2nd dessert is served within 10 minutes; mango, and mango ice cream with vegan cream. Unfortunately, you don't often see chefs being so incredibly flexible and going to great lengths for a satisfied guest.

And finally a vegan pastel de nata, yum!

What an unforgettable evening this was! Thank you!...

My wife and I had been looking for an oyster tour or something similar when we stumbled upon a small guided tour with Chef João Oliveira that included a night at his wonderful restaurant, Vista. Luckily he accepted and we could not have been happier to have booked it. The oyster tour itself was unlike anything we’d ever done, walking during low tide through an estuary filled with sea life of every type. We hunted for razor clams, found a few octopuses, and learned all about the life cycle of oysters and what it takes to farm them. The gentleman who owns the farm truly was one of the warmest, friendliest people we’ve ever met and he cultivates some of the best oysters you’ll ever have. Chef Joao himself was so kind, funny, friendly, and clearly talented, it made the entire process feel like some old friends meeting to take a walk through a farm. Afterwards, Chef cooked us up some simple but truly excellent clams to go with some champagne for lunch.

That evening we went to Vista and were treated to a truly phenomenal taste of the sea and what it has to offer. The Portuguese wine pairing was excellent and well worth doing. While the food is top notch, the team at the restaurant did such a great job we cannot say enough about them. Everyone at the restaurant was kind, knowledgeable, and attentive in a way that felt very natural. From the waitstaff to the sommelier to the bartenders, each person spent meaningful time making sure you felt at home and well taken care of.

If you are in the area and have a chance to visit his restaurant, you should. If you are lucky enough to book an oyster tour when he has an opening available in his seemingly endless schedule, you should. Either will be an experience you...

Wow! What a unique and amazing dining experience at Vista! The dinner is a fixed menu (€200 each) lasting 4+ hours so I suggest the 1900h start time. The cadence is good but it could have been a bit shorter overall. We left full (and a bit tipsy) so plan ahead. Getting there you need to drive into a pedestrian street and the instructions for how to get thru the barrier were unclear. We finally arrived and entering the gates and valet parking were easy. The dinner begins with a kitchen and wine cellar tour and small unique snacks at the chef's table. I won’t spoil the meal details and I’m sure they change frequently but overall it was an amazing example of local ingredients, a perfect blend of flavors (only a couple plates missed the mark slightly) and originality. Mostly fish and seafood and vegetarian - no poultry or beef. Nice light sauces. We did the wine pairing and every wine was good but this was overpriced and a bit too much wine for us so I might choose the half pairing or a single bottle next time. The service was over the top amazing and more like a play or dance the way they worked together as a part of the meal itself. Overall would highly recommend this if you want a (expensive but) truly unique and memorable evening in...