Author: Chris

We took a drive towards the west to check out some of the beautiful Algarve coastline.  The first stop was Praia da Marinha.  The beaches are pretty empty this time of year.

We had to go back to the hotel and change into shorts.  It’s 70 degrees here. Too warm for jeans!  The next beach was Praia Dona Ana.

Then Praia do Camillo.  There were about a thousand steps down to this beach, so we skipped walking down.

Then we drove a short distance to Farol da Ponta da Piedade….say that three times fast!  This place had the most amazing cliff views!

You could walk down several stairways to get this view right above the water.

Just like in America there were a lot of people putting themselves into very dangerous situations to get that perfect selfie.

Vila Vita Parc has a lot of restaurants on the premises, but the best one is Ocean, which has 2 Michelin stars (if any restaurant should have 3, this is the one!).

We have been to several Michelin star restaurants in the US,  France, and now in Portugal.   This restaurant has a 10 and a 15 course meal.  We have done 15 courses before and likely never again…way too much food.  We opted for the 10 courses (11 listed on the menu though), and picked our own wine.

In our experience, these types of restaurants start out strong on the apps, and things become hit and miss after that.  I think a lot of these places are just resting on their laurels.  Not so at Ocean!  These guys are charging hard for that 3rd star!

We started with what looked like an olive branch with olives, but those are cornbread chips, and the olives you see are not olives, but olive oil butter shaped as olives.  I could have eaten 20 of these!

Next was the Chicken Piri-Piri.  In the front was a tomato sandwich (not sure what that has to do with chicken), and crispy chicken skin with a spicy BBQ sauce.  Literally tasted like a BBQ potato chip.  The tender juicy McNugget on the chicken leg pedestal tasted just like fried chicken.

Next up is the tuna tartar from the Azores with lime and wasabi on a mini puff pastry.

Then the crab with caviar and brioche toast.

Missed a photo of the next course, which was a traditional Portugese dish called Acorda.

The Atlantic Nori Bread with Goat Milk Butter

Missed the next course (Amberjack fish)….too much wine!  After that was Rock Octopus, both via little tacos nestled in in cactus, and then on the plate.

Then the Guineafowl.  Yum!!!!

Then the deserts.  This one didn’t appear on the menu.  I think it replaced the Rocha Pear.

Cardamom leaves, cashews and papaya.

Banana lollipops, chocolate layered cookies, and I forget what was inside the shells.

Chocolate chickens and eggs

The final menu to help us remember the event, since had two bottles of wine!  Sorry about some of the photos…it was somewhat dim in the restaurant and I didn’t want to be the ugly American using my flash.

I would eat here again tonight but I don’t think my body could handle it two days in a row!