There is a new executive chef at Monchique Resort & Spa. The hotel has announced that chef Luís Santos is now the leading man at its Serra restaurant.
“Chef Luís Santos presents a new menu which showcases Portuguese gastronomy, focusing on ingredients and traditional flavours of the Algarvian region,” the hotel says in a statement to the press.
The new executive chef was born in Albufeira and studied at the Hotel and Tourism School in Faro, having received a post-graduate degree in Advanced Cooking from the Lusophone University (Universidade Lusófona).
His resumé includes spells working for several hotels and restaurants in Portugal, the Madeira archipelago, Mozambique, Dubai and Macau. His most recent working experiences were at the NAU Lago Montargil & Villas hotel in the Alentejo and at Wyndham Grand Algarve in Almancil.
“Algarve gastronomy is rooted in my cooking and this new challenge will be no exception,” said chef Luís Santos.
“At Serra, we are developing a unique experience where the flavours of the Monchique mountain and the Algarve can be enjoyed, with some inspiration from my international career,” the chef promised, adding that his menu will feature a “selection of inspiration which will create harmonious dishes.”
Clients at Serra can expect a new range of flavours, “always inspired by the best that Portugal and Monchique have to offer,” the hotel says.
The menu features dishes such as boar stew with prunes or octopus with sweet potato “textures” and caramelised shallots, while the list of desserts will have those with a sweet tooth excited to try all the options on offer, such as the chef’s take on the Portuguese ‘drunken pear’, cooked in a honey-based firewater known as ‘melosa’ with walnut dacquoise, and ‘arroz doce’ (sweet rice) with marinated fig.
