Menus
Not being a Japanese restaurant, Soão dedicates one of his menus to the Japanese kitchen ex-libris. With its Sushi & Sashimi Menu, Soão honours the oriental gastronomy, or Japanese one.João Francisco Duarte, who adds to his curriculum passages at the sushi bar of the former Bica do Sapato, at Midori, now with a Michelin star, under the auspices of Pedro Almeida, at Penha Longa Resort, and an enriching experience at Sushi Samba, in London, one of the most renowned restaurants in the world, also with a
Portuguese executive chef, Cláudio Cardoso.
Talking about the Bar Menu, the restaurant’s head bartender, took his time researching Asia’s most traditional drinks with the purpose of creating a Bar Menu that was genuine and faithful to the Asiatic traditions. Through sakês he arrived to the universe of the Japanese whisky and to the less-known distilled, such as shochu, soju and baijiu. The cocktail menu drinks inspiration from the courses: it’s the countries they come from that inspire every tailor-made cocktail, thought as an extension to the gastronomic options. The gins, rums, vodkas and beers are equally from Asian origin. The tea also deserved the attention of the bar team. From a unique partnership in Portugal with the tea sommelier Sebastian Filgueiras, founder of Companhia Portugueza do Chá, resulted Soão’s six teas, ideal to pair with the course, and also three surprising harmonisations of tea and whisky.
In Soão’s Main Menu it is possible to travel around the world and taste specialties from India, China, Vietnam, Thailand, South Korea, Indonesia and Laos. From India come the typical samosas, from Thailand the aromatic pad thai and from Vietnam the famous pho; the dim sum take us on a journey to China, the spicy kimchi makes us jump to Korea. The duck soup with rice noodles tastes like Laos, but also Thailand.