Restaurant Review: Shis

Restaurant: Shis

Location: Porto, Portugal

General First Impressions: Located by the sea front in the beautiful city of Porto, Shis has a lot going for it in terms of location. When we arrived the sun was setting, casting a beautiful glow of colour across the sea, easily visible through the glass walls of the restaurant.

The inside of the restaurant was modern and clean and we were well looked after by staff from the moment we sat at the table, provided with fresh bread rolls, butter and other dips while we perused the menus and chose drinks.

Starter: For my starter, I chose a goats cheese nest with pepper coulis. I was really impressed with the presentation - the dramatic orange of the coulis, the drizzle of balsamic vinegar and the nest, which it turned out was a very accurate way of describing the container of the goats cheese.

I really enjoyed all the flavours of this dish - the sweetness of the pepper coulis against the strong taste of goats cheese, the salad and the balsamic vinegar also complimenting nicely. The nest thing was a bit hard to eat - it didn't cut up nicely - but that was more than offset by the presentation and the taste.

Main: There was a limited choice of vegetarian options, including a vegetarian sushi which I was a bit scared by, so I went for a staple classic of Mushroom and courgette risotto. Not many members of my family are risotto fans, but I quite like it.

Of course, it doesn't really matter how you present risotto - it's always going to look pretty much like a plate of sick, so I'll concentrate on the flavours. It was very rich, creamy without being too stodgy. The shaved parmesan at the top added a nice kick to it, and I enjoyed the little bits of courgette mixed in amongst the mushrooms.

Dessert: As I'd been unable to sample many of the traditional delights of Portuguese cuisine, I decided to have Pecado Do Convento for my dessert. Literal translation: Sin of the Convent.

This entailed a sharp tangerine ice cream, a spongey thing not unlike a swiss roll with an orange sauce, and that jelly thing on the end. The jelly thing is made of egg and sugar. A lot of sugar. No one was able to give me a more specific recipe or description than that.

The roll was lovely, perfectly sweet and a nice orangey tang to it. The jelly stuff was nice but the sort of sweet that makes your teeth ache. Fortunately, the tangerine ice cream had a bit of bite to it, so by alternating mouthfuls of the ice cream and jelly you could enjoy both flavours without being overwhelmed by either.

I did enjoy it, though the jelly was a bit much. I don't think I'd be in a rush to eat it again, but as an experience of a local traditional dessert, I was pleased to finish my meal with it.

Price: I didn't pay, so I can't really comment on the price. I think it's medium to expensive (though my view of that is coming as someone with 77p in their bank account, so perhaps it would be a little less expensive to others) but for the atmosphere, the location and the food, it's definitely worth a visit if you happen to be in Porto.

Overall: A great restaurant that I really appreciated being treated to. Good food, good location and I was fortunate enough to have good company too!

Food of Portugal

One of the most challenging things about being vegetarian is going abroad. I've been to mostly European countries, but also South Africa during my years as a vegetarian, and I've found myself in some interesting situations.

Once on a day cruise trip, I was handed my lunch - a plate of salad with a cut of meat. I asked for the vegetarian option, had my plate taken off me, the meat removed, and the plate handed back. And I've lost count of the amount of times I've had to explain that fish is not a vegetable.

I'm not a squeamish, or particularly strict vegetarian. I'm not bothered by people cooking meat, or by people eating meat, and I won't be too concerned if I think my food has touched something meaty. I'm not a vegetarian because I love animals, or because I don't like meat, so it really doesn't break my heart to have a bit of meat juice on my salad, particularly when I'm abroad and I know it's likely to be an issue.

The Boyfriend and I travelled out to Portugal last week, spending a few days with family who live over there. I know from previous conversations that Portugal is a very meat and fish heavy country, so I was intrigued as to what I would get. While there, the Boyfriend and I both made some interesting foodie discoveries.

Natas

Natas are like little pastry treats you have with coffee. They are very, very sweet to offset the bitter coffee taste. Now, I don't like coffee, so I didn't have that to offset the sweetness, but I really wasn't complaining.

They were delicious. Like egg custards, in a way, but really not because I don't like egg custards. The filling in the middle was more like just custard, but much richer. I enjoyed eating these immensely.

Tornedo and Picanha

The Boyfriend enjoyed the meaty offerings. I won't cook it at home - not out of any principle, just because I fear I might kill him with it - so he took every opportunity to get his meat fix. Two new things he tried were Tornedo, which was like a small, but very thick steak.

He also had the opportunity to try some home cooked Picanha, a Brazilian dish the Portuguese have adopted. It's a specific cut of meat, cooked only on the outside, so it's very rare in the middle.

I had some delicious vegetarian alternatives, some of which I'll talk about in more detail in a restaurant review I have planned. Overall, the Boyfriend and I both thoroughly enjoyed the foods Portugal had to offer, and it was very interesting to learn about the different traditional dishes.


Francesinha

And despite my vegetarianism, my mouth was watering when the Boyfriend and our hosts had a Francesinha (literal translation: Little French Girl, though there is nothing little, French or girly about it).

A sandwich, swimming in a tomato sauce, containing two different types of sausage, beef steak and ham, topped with a fried egg and cheese. A heart attack on a plate, but it looked so good.

Almost enough to make me waver from my vegetarianism. Almost.

(Note: All photos taken from Google, as I stupidly didn't have the foresight to take photos myself.)