Awe inspiring views of the Ria Formosa Nature Reserve play the perfect backdrop to Quinta do Lago‘s fine dining restaurant Casa Velha. The long-standing and much celebrated culinary venue re-opened in 2015 with a brand new look, retaining its class and incredible flavours. Casa Velha is headed up by Chef Yannick, who’s creative style of French cuisine, coloured with delicious Mediterranean influences has long attracted guests who can expect a truly memorable dining experience.

Casa Velha offers seasonal a la carte and tasting menus, taking full advantage of quality local ingredients. With wine pairing available for both tasting menus, and a highly knowledagable sommelier on hand, we opted for ‘Menu Epicure’.

Accompanied by a cool and crisp glass of Portuguese white, a first course of king crab & oscietre caviar, with green asparagus, celeriac, ginger, lemon and a cold spicy crustacean sauce provided a refreshing start to the meal. This was followed by an immaculately presented fish course of John Dory fillet risotto with aubergine and rocket pesto, asparagus with hazelnuts, celery sauce and kaffir lime.
Switching to red, the full bodied Piano proved excellent company to a succulent and perfectly pink organic rack of lamb from Alentejo, braised shoulder with chorizo crust, vegetables, black garlic, lemon and mint.

We enjoyed both the lemon vacherin’ with sorbet and the opus’ cake of chocolate from Santo Domingo, with cinnamon cream, a pear heart, raspberry and almond milk ice-cream, each partnered with their own divine dessert wine pairing.

Delicately matched with each course, the wine pairing really highlighted the Casa Velha teams attention to detail, with the sommelier offering an in depth insight in to each wine and it’s origin.

With multiple fine dining options available all over the Algarve, such as the Conrad’s two Michelin Starred ‘Gusto’ restaurant just a short drive away, Casa Velha stands out as a must visit, with food quality and service exceeding all expectations. Chef Yannick’s creative flair and innovative use of local ingredients blew us away and will certainly be a dining experience to remember for years to come!

Many thanks to the Quinta do Lago team for kindly hosting us, all opinions expressed are our own.