Coupage 51 — Restaurant in Porto

If you are browsing the internet for new restaurants in Porto, Coupage 51 may just appear to be one more among the crowd of wannabes, trying to become a hotspot for tourists and locals. The lack of notoriety may be mistaken with having failed to impress. Truth is Coupage 51 does not engage in media stunts like many, many others, buying off their fame sponsoring reviews in media outlets like Nit or Evasões. The lack of notoriety is merely a question of numbers. The few reviews they garnered on Tripadvisor speak for themselves but the real deal is going there and trying, not only the menu, but also the charming atmosphere.

Headquartered in a narrow side street of Cedofeita, well in the heart of the botellon movida of Porto, its low-key setting clashes with the outside teen beer partying. The hostess is quite engaging and amiable while tending alone to the few (seven or so ) tables. The music adds to the laidback vibe, completing the isolation from the outside. There are no other distractions like a TV or loud conversations. Time for the food. There is no focus on individual classical dishes. The menu targets groups aiming to share the various tapas like options. Where else have we seen this? It may seem unoriginal, and it may somewhat trigger a "been there, done that" feel. But do not wane. As the plates start being served we immediately understand the effort put to each dish. From the presentation to the seasoning, the outcome is anything but the customary experience we have all had elsewhere. Not being especially groundbreaking in any of the options, there is some authorly panache present in every plate. I would stand out the tuna tataki and the fried eggplant. They do taste as exquisite as they look in the photographs. Towards the end of our meal, we were greeted by the chef, who obviously got our best compliments. There is dedication and talent present in every aspect of the service, proving that an easygoing approach can work as good as any other.

Coupage 51 is getting a 5 out of 5 from me. It will probably never earn a Michelin star and I don't think it will ever play in that league. And that is good as it does not build up those high expectations, making way for a wonderful surprise and a lingering aftertaste.

This is indeed a gourmet restaurant without a gourmet bill and some extras I invite the readers to discover...

This was our first time in Porto and I must say that we couldn't have asked for a better first evening!

We are both vegan and the staff were more than happy to point out a decent number of menu options that could very easily be made vegan without any hassle - they really knew what they were doing.

And when it came to the food, they put so much care and great twists on simple tapas dishes. The patatas bravas came with a great Romesco sauce and the roasted new potatoes were seriously good, I could have eaten a bucket of them. The honeyed aubergines were delightfully crispy thin - probably the most pleasantly surprising dish given how it's usually made. It sounds odd to say that bread with tomato was exceptional but it was still a celebration of such a simple dish. Finally, they really pulled out the stops for a fusion stir fry that was catered just for vegans (ask for the mussel salad to be vegan) - the hero in this dish was actually the carrots from Southern Portugal. These also came free as a delicious amuse bouche to start us off. Needless to say my bouche was amused.

Totting that all up together with a glass of red and an aperol spritz came to an insanely reasonable €30 between two. You could easily expect to pay £50 in London for that and consider it decent value.

For such an unassuming place this really was a hidden gem but, given it's only been open two weeks, I'm sure it will become a well known one...

Ate here with my family because the rating was high and oh boy was this place a disappointment. The Gorgonzola and figues Salad was a disgrace: the figues came from a jam… and the portion was minuscule. The Gambas were close to inedible and for 16 euros are borderline a theft: for starters, there were only 5 of them, they were most likely frozen and on top of that they were overcooked and over salted. To top it off, the bowl was mostly filled with rather poorly tasting toasted bread… (see picture) The Ceviche and chicken tacos were okay but wouldn’t recommend. The portion size of the baba ganoush was a joke… The Tuna tataki was the only decent dish, albeit on the smaller side. Hence the 2 stars instead of 1.

If you’d like a second opinion, here’s my 11 year old nephew’s review:

Very small portions for a very big bill.The chairs are as small as the portions and they give so much bread that it takes the half of the meal.The tacos has a very bad tortilla and the drink was good but small ( I am being very nice ). Do not go there in general because it would be a loss of time for a bad...