Balcão - Henrique Sá Pessoa em Lisboa

I like Henrique Sá Pessoa! He wears the same apron as me. Whenever he shares recipes they’re beautifully simple and tasty. He seems a nice person. Does he spread himself too thin though with so many restaurants bearing his name? I expect the quality to be top notch and the experience second to none. I chose the Prego de Choco Frito and my wife the Bitoque. The choco frito was nice but very greasy, in our house we would have dabbed the fried choco several times dry in paper towel. Don’t get me wrong, anything fried tastes good, and the sensory experience was pleasant at first, but my word was it greasy. The ink coloured bap was tasty too - and it absorbed all the grease, sadly. The green sauce however was a mystery. Was it coentros? Or salsa? Was it pesto? I had to consult the menu again to solve riddle: supposedly it was mayonnaise of coentros and lime. Too bad it had no taste. I mean absolutely no taste. That really was a shame. The molho of the bitoque was tasty if not a bit salty, the shredded pickles a nice touch. And all the other guests’ dishes looked really appetising! The smell that came from the kitchen was bad though, pleas get your extractor fans fixed. It really smelled of a kitchen on the old channel ferries. When it’s all sorted please invite me back, I’d love to go again, I mean Henrique deserves 5 stars!

O espaço é agradável, tanto quanto um centro comercial o permite, e os empregados primam pela simpatia e prestabilidade. Já no que diz respeito à ementa, falta claramente o efeito WOW. Para o valor que é cobrado, e não interessa se num restaurante de 2ª ou 3ª linha de um CHEF, achei quase que banal. Não é que não tivéssemos gostado da refeição e dos pratos, mas para um valor na ordem dos 35€/pax (já com bebidas.. mas sem sobremesa) está claramente (muitíssimo!!) abaixo de outras ofertas quando se fala de restaurantes deste nível. Sinto que paguei para ir ao "Balcão" e a experiência ficou por acontecer.. Não vou repetir.