{"id":7448,"date":"2024-07-29T09:03:00","date_gmt":"2024-07-29T09:03:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/voraz.pt\/?p=7448"},"modified":"2025-03-26T10:09:32","modified_gmt":"2025-03-26T10:09:32","slug":"voraz-a-sabedoria-da-comida-michelin-no-coracao-do-mercado-do-barreiro","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/voraz.pt\/en\/voraz-a-sabedoria-da-comida-michelin-no-coracao-do-mercado-do-barreiro\/","title":{"rendered":"Voraz: the wisdom of \u201cMichelin food\u201d in the heart of Barreiro Market"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Born from the dream of two chefs with roots in the South Bank, Voraz has found its home in the heart of Mercado do Barreiro. We celebrate local products while taking on the challenge of breaking the myth that contemporary cuisine is only for privileged tastes and wallets.<\/strong><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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The sharp knife glides effortlessly, trimming the excess fat from a tender cut of meat, then salted and seasoned before landing in the sizzling pot. From there comes the unmistakable sound of food searing, a shhhhhhhhh! that sparks the appetite, followed by the aroma filling the air, already teasing the taste buds of Barreiro.<\/p>

The magic of great gastronomy, usually hidden behind kitchen walls, unfolds here with no secrets, right before the eyes of our guests. And that\u2019s just one ingredient in the recipe of the new resident at Mercado do Barreiro: a restaurant with open doors and an open heart for everyone who can\u2019t resist the pleasure of the table and who gives in, without hesitation, to a truly\u2026 voracious appetite.<\/p>

A funcionar desde o in\u00edcio de abril, o restaurante Voraz<\/em> It\u2019s bold in every sense \u2013 especially in taste \u2013 bringing contemporary cuisine across the river from Lisbon to the South Bank, determined to melt away the myth that good gastronomy is only for privileged tastes and wallets.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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\"I\u2019ve always wanted to demystify contemporary cuisine, and Barreiro appeared as a great opportunity to show that it\u2019s possible to find Michelin-star-worthy food right in the middle of the market, with the same simplicity as a trip to the butcher,\" explains chef Tiago Santos.<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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A duo of chefs with roots in the South Coast\u00a0<\/strong><\/h5>

At 36, Tiago knows Michelin-star cuisine, expertise gained while sharing the kitchen with one of Portugal\u2019s starred chefs, Rui Silvestre, at the former Quorum in Chiado. This experience is now at the service of Barreiro locals, although the first months have already shown that the clientele reaches far beyond the town\u2019s limits.<\/p>

\"We\u2019ve already served groups from Cascais, tourists from Lisbon arriving by boat, and young surfers recharging their energy after tackling the waves in Set\u00fabal, all drawn by curiosity,\" lists Bruno Xavier Marques, Xavi, 28, Tiago\u2019s young partner at Voraz.<\/p>

Tiago is a \u2018boatman\u2019 from the coastal village of Sarilhos Pequenos, while Xavi is a \u2018highlander\u2019 from Quinta do Anjo, near Palmela. It\u2019s a symbiosis of coastal and countryside experiences, shaping a dynamic menu that aims to renew itself week by week, following the seasons.\u00a0<\/p>

And to serve contemporary cuisine that\u2019s 100 percent made in Barreiro.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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The hidden gems of Barreiro on your plate<\/h5>

Above all, Tiago is an enthusiast. He knows the intricacies of the palate, not just in taste but also in rhetoric. With the same skill he wields a knife, the chef slices words to craft the recipe behind Voraz\u2019s kitchen and menu.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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\"We don\u2019t do labels here, whether Portuguese or international cuisine. The goal is to create food from scratch, respecting the seasons and focusing on what the land gives us,\" he explains.<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\"The respect for the ways of the Earth comes from lessons learned during his undergraduate and master\u2019s studies in Geography, before life\u2019s detours took Tiago to other places, first at the Estoril School of Hospitality and Tourism, and later to the United States.\"\u00a0<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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\"But the concept remains. Geography is a holistic discipline, also geopolitical, attentive to the relationship between humans, territory, and cultures, in that cacophony that shapes the world,\" explains the former geographer.<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Voraz\u2019s geogastronomy comes to life right from the menu creation, which is renewed weekly.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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\"Voraz-Barreiro-17-scaled\"<\/figure><\/div>
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\"Every Tuesday, we go shopping at the local market in Barreiro, Mercado Levante. And based on what we find there, we put together the week\u2019s menu\", says the chef, born in Sarilhos Pequenos, unafraid of the big challenge he took on by proposing a fluid menu.<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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To illustrate the process, Tiago places half a dozen unusually shaped oranges on the table. \u201cOrange-pomegranates. Extremely rare,\u201d he presents, once again using the blade to split the fruit in half. Only then can you appreciate the true beauty of the rarity, with an internal structure in purplish tones, closer to pomegranates than oranges.\u00a0<\/p>

\"They were being sold at the market by a single vendor, who explained they came from a tree on his property. I immediately pulled out my pocket knife and opened one. I went crazy over it and bought all of the man\u2019s orange-pomegranates. The menu hadn\u2019t originally included any dishes with oranges, but we were led to improvise,\" he recounts.<\/p>

That week, the lone vendor\u2019s orange-pomegranate joined green apple pickles for the sauce of the Porco Baba Ganoush on the menu, which also featured a promising Arroz de Caldeirada, highlighted by the catch of the day with a gel made from peppers and halophytic plants from the nearby Tagus River.<\/p>

The obsession \u2013 and perhaps no word is more fitting \u2013 with serving food that\u2019s 100 percent made in Barreiro extends to other items on the menu, such as wine produced on the peninsula and spirits, from the brandies Vinica Velha and Bagaceira Nova to the muscat Hor\u00e1cio Sim\u00f5es, as well as Brejinho da Costa vodka and coffee liqueur.<\/p>

\"Contemporary cuisine isn\u2019t about the type of product, but about the attitude toward it,\" teaches the geo-chef.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Ensuring people leave with a smile, no anesthesia needed<\/strong><\/h5>

Xavi, Tiago\u2019s partner, also knows the intricacies of the mouth, and again, not just in terms of taste. The 28-year-old chef actually started on the less pleasant side: he began his professional life with mirrors and a drill in hand, as a dentist. Today, however, he ensures people leave with a smile in a much more enjoyable way \u2013 and without anesthesia.<\/p>

And he ensures it\u2019s not just the customers\u2019 smiles.<\/p>

\"I\u2019m very happy now,\" says the former dentist, trained at the Faculty of Dental Medicine of the University of Lisbon, smiling as he speaks. A good student, he carried his parents\u2019 hope in Quinta do Anjo of becoming the \u201cfamily doctor,\u201d but life had other plans, and the dentist ended up in the classrooms of the Lisbon School of Hospitality and Tourism.<\/p>

A classroom also brought the two partners together.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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\"A close friend of mine was a student of Tiago\u2019s at the Moita Professional Technical School. She knew me well and told me there was a teacher I had to meet. I took her advice and went to talk to Tiago. Luckily, I got an internship,\" he recalls.<\/p>

\"My luck, your misfortune,\" jokes the ever-humorous Tiago, keeping a close ear on the conversation.<\/p>

The chef claims he immediately recognized the talent of the former dentist before him, but even so, or perhaps because of it, he didn\u2019t make life easy for the intern. For three months \u2013 three whole months! \u2013 Xavi struggled with preparing a wild rabbit rice dish until he earned the approval of his then-boss.<\/p>

In Xavi\u2019s defense, it wasn\u2019t just any rabbit rice, but again a dish prepared according to geogastronomy principles, respecting the region\u2019s imperatives. As if that weren\u2019t enough, there were the details, or \u201cfiner points,\u201d of the m\u00e9tier, like caramelizing the rabbit bones, cooking the meat at low temperature, and shredding it until almost translucent.<\/p>

\"It was a dish that seemed very simple to the customer, but it took three hours to prepare,\" says Xavi. \"There was always something missing, in the texture, in the salt, until one day I tasted it and was sure it was perfect. I showed Tiago and said just that: it\u2019s perfect,\" the chef recalls.\u00a0<\/p>

In response, he heard the former master, and now partner, declare:<\/p>

\"It is, go ahead and serve!\"<\/p>