I Was There: Voraz – Cuisine with Identity
You can feel how Tiago Emanuel Santos favors the local over the exotic and stays true to his roots and the traditions he grew up with.
For many years now, I have been following the journey of Chef Tiago Emanuel Santos, a former geography teacher who one day fell in love with cooking and never let go. His academic background deeply influences what arrives at our table when we taste his strongly identity-driven food, showing absolute respect for the product and his relationship with suppliers. You can feel it in the way he prioritizes local over exotic and remains true to his roots and the traditions in which he was raised.
The good news for his many admirers, myself included, is that Tiago—who has already traveled extensively around the world—settled about a year ago, fully committed, in Barreiro. He creates accessible, convivial cuisine, full of flavors, colors, and aromas that take us back to forgotten corners of our memory, yet with a twist that intrigues and challenges us.
At Barreiro’s bright and renovated municipal market, Voraz occupies four attractive “corners,” spread across several counters among the fruits, vegetables, butchers, and fishmongers of the 1.º de Maio market. One of the spaces is dedicated to sushi and Asian cuisine, with its own chef, emphasizing Portuguese fish whenever possible, though it was closed on the day of our visit.
In the end, what remained was the very reason for our visit: to taste the “territorial cuisine” of Tiago and his young chef, Bruno Xavier, who graciously hosted us. The menu is divided into two sections: one called “to share” and the other “to devour.” But that’s a bit of a euphemism, because in truth, everything can be shared (and we did) — and all of it is meant to be devoured (oh, how it is!).
We started off strong with a top-notch couvert, featuring rye bread, Azores butter (one of Tiago’s well-known passions), and marinated olives. The challenge here was to hold back so as not to lose our appetite for what was to come. Guided by Xavier, we chose the cuttlefish tagliatelle with chestnut cream and crispy pork belly, one of the recent additions to the menu. As the name suggests, the cuttlefish was sliced thinly, and the chestnut cream, cooked in chicken broth, wrapped the dish harmoniously, while the pork belly accents brought a playful touch. The next dish was brilliant: scallops with shiitake mushrooms and wafu sauce. It was an explosion of flavors that completely won us over. Then came the codfish chora in creamy Carolino rice, full of richness and delicacy. We also wanted to try the beef tongue braised in curry with sun-dried tomato and green apple, another dish that surprised and challenged us. Already quite full from such voracious eating, we almost skipped dessert. But Tiago insisted we try the Abade de Priscos pudding, and we confirmed that, even in sweets, Voraz stands shoulder to shoulder with the best.
It wouldn’t be fair to finish without mentioning the wines, another of Tiago Emanuel Santos’s passions. He even ventured into making a wine in the Azores in partnership with a local producer. The wine list here focuses mainly on wines from the Setúbal Peninsula (thinking local, once again), offering choices that stray from the obvious and the déjà vu, yet make perfect sense when paired with this cuisine — simple in concept but complex in flavors and textures. And all this comes at prices that are practically unheard of nowadays.
