A Cevicheria in Lisbon

I can't remember how I came to know about A Cevicheria (https://www.facebook.com/ACevicheriaChefKiko/) in Lisbon. It must have been through Instagram.
A picture of huge octopus hanging from the ceiling must have caught my eyes when I was checking where to eat in Lisbon.

This is a ceviche restaurant and it's really an excellent one too. Ceviche is a seafood dish made from fresh raw fish cured in citrus juices such as lemon or lime. As the dish is not cooked with heat, freshness is very important.

The restaurant does not take reservations. We popped in earlier in the day and asked how busy it would be if we turned up around seven. They said it should be fine and they were right. We sat at the counter right away where you can see what's going on...

We can't ignore the huge octopus above our head ...

So, we perused our menu ...

We decided to try the 6-course tasting menu. We ordered the house wine and still water too.

Can't read what it says but it was nicely chilled and
very good wine that goes well with their ceviche dishes ...

Anyway, we had no idea what to except but just wait and see ...

Can't escape from the octopus ....

They brought us some bread including some corn bread with some yoghurt and butter to nibble. Then the first course arrived which was a Scallops Gazpacho with topioca, lime and salmon roe.

This was a very refreshing starter. Meanwhile, chefs are preparing the next course ....

This one is Pure Ceviche - white fish with mashed sweet potato, onion, seaweed and tiger milk which is lime and coriander juice. This is a beautiful and tasty dish, especially if you like refreshing and sour lime flavour.

.... wonder what the chef is preparing for us next ....

The third course is Tuna Ceviche, which is tuna, lychees, hazelnuts and beet roots with rice paper on top. (If you eat meat, it would come with foie gras).

This is a very interesting dish but in a very nice way. You would not think that tuna and hazelnuts could work with beetroot but it does. And you also find thinly sliced beetroot and lychee hidden underneath the rice paper. And, despite with beetroot sauce, you can actually and properly taste the tuna which shows how fresh the ingredients are...

In the meantime, without having to ask, waiters came round to replenish our wine glasses ...
The restaurant was full by this time and people were cueing outside, waiting for their tables whilst having some drinks. The bartender was busily making cocktails. Every 30 seconds or so it seemed, I could hear, shuku shuku shuku shuku the sound of cocktail shaker....

We were really enjoying the courses - counting how many courses we had so far and how many to go yet ...

What's next ...?

The next course was BBQ Octopus Causa - roasted octopus with BBQ sauce, onion, padron pepper, dark mashed potato with squid ink. (If you eat meat, it would come with pork rind...). This gives you a welcoming change to your palate which has started accustoming to a typical ceviche dish of raw fish in lime or lemon juice. 

What could be next ...

One of chefs preparing dishes with serious look

Our fifth course was Sea Quinoto - Quinoa risotto with shrimp, cockle, muscle, white fish, seaweed with oysters foam and kombu (Japanese seaweed).

So, it started off with a cool gazpacho soup, followed by typical cold ceviche dish, moving to something intriguing like tuna hazelnuts and beetroots combo, then onto warm roasted meaty octopus, and now with this comforting dish of quinoa risotto which is light with airy foam of subtle but delicious oysters foam. What a clever way of serving dishes.

It's an explosion and exploration of colour, texture, smell and flavour combination and absolutely beautiful to look at.

The meal was then completed with the 6th course, dessert of Chocolate Peanut and Banana which is a banana cake with chocolate mouse, peanut crumble with salted peanuts. It's sweet, salty, nutty and yummy but not overpowering. Perfect ending to the 5 course dishes.

We then had an espresso each.

Bill came in a fish tin ... which is a funny idea, considering nothing they serve come from tins as they are meant to be fresh ....

It's not cheap, especially in Lisbon there are so many restaurants where you could eat delicious meals at least half or even less than the price here but it's worth a try. Such a beautiful food experience.

And if you do go, make sure you sit at the counter where you can see what the chefs are preparing (but don't look up too often if you are not keen on an octopus ....).

That's all forks!