Ó Balcão — Restaurant in Santarém

One of the best meals we had in our lives, period. This chef possesses a playfulness and attention to detail I have seldomly encountered. Also not over the top, always with a clear direction. We had the tasting menu and it was course after course of witty, tongue in cheek (and you can also take this literally -his love for nose-to-tale cooking shines trough the menu) and thought-trough dishes. Never sacrificing taste to looks. The kitchen seems very aware of localy produced goods and try to go for zero-waste, short chain. For instance, they apply traditional methods such as smoking and aging to develop taste in goods like invasive predator fish, normally not really used in the kitchen but these days a real problem in the local waterways in order to maybe reduce the level of these particular species. We were expecting quality, yes. But not this serious work of art. Pairing wines were delightful and plenty.

Also a special shout out to the people serving us, especially our waiter for the day (I'm truly sorry, I forgot your name!). You did a splendid job in conveying the message the chef and kitchen had for us to the table. With passion and pride. Not many times we literally go stand in front of the kitchen and...

After reading the Michelin review, we decided to go here for our anniversary brunch and it was somehow a bit disappointing.

The menu was served in an envelope, that we had to open at the table, we decided to go for meat for our mains, so after a bit of debating we decided to go for the sirloin, but when the waiter came, this dish didn't seem available that day, so why put it on the menu I asked and there was no satisfying answer.

We ordered something else, I believe it was the bulls tail and everything was quite alright, just not really up to par and the prices are steep I might add. We wanted to go for the chef's menu, but at €95,- p.p. we decided not to. For those prices you can get a Chef's menu in cities like Paris & Amsterdam. But here we are in Santarem, in Central Portugal.. how?

After diner, I went to the bathroom, the chef was there in the back area, presumably doing his finances and his face looked like thunder. Now this can happen to the best of us, but at least try to hide it from your clients...

The ambiance is nice, the wine was good...however if you don't eat all the weird stuff they cook (tongs, cheek, octopus) you are really punished by having to stick to a humble starter because they won't make any effort to serve you a descent hot meal. When I questioned the waiter why they can't add a normal meal in their menu or at least something vegetarian he replied there are plenty of other restaurants I could go which I find an offensive poor reply...what if I want to dine with my husband who happens to eat pork for instance. But sill the price x what you get is NOT a fair count. Other than that, the waitress speaks so fast that despite being a portuguese speaking person I hardly could understand her. There is room for improvement and a pity that in 2022 you still suffer such a prejudice for not eating weird stuff. The girl on the table next to me struggled as much as I did but she wanted to join her family. Of course the won't see me back but at the same time I won't recommend them to our...