117
with a contemporary flare. However, his style borrows in-
fluences from Portuguese speaking countries with added
Asian spice, but he refuses to call it fusion food. “The
fusion must be made with common sense, otherwise it can
be disastrous,” he added. In Macau for his fourth visit,
Sobral tried to pinpoint the characteristics of Portuguese
food in the territory: “In Portugal there are three types of
cooking: family, industrial and contemporary. In Macau
only the family style remains.’’ Chinese cooking is one of
his favourites and one of the best he knows, he adds.
Chef Sobral’s culinary awards include the “Prize
Winner of Special Gastronomy, Best of 2007, Wine
Magazine, February 2008” and “Chef of the Year - Eng-
lish Academy of Gastronomy 1999.”
He has also been decorated by the President of the
Republic (of Portugal), attaining the level of Office of
the Order of Prince Henry the Navigator in 2006 for the
promotion of Portuguese cuisine
A leading figure in the world of the art of cuisine in
Portugal, his experience is not limited to the kitchen. He
is also the gastronomic consultant for Group Estoril-Sol
where Stanley Ho Hung-sun is majority partner, Miele
Portguesa and also is responsible for the creation of
business-class cuisine for Portugal’s flagship airline TAP.
Sobral also works with Oliveira da Serra company,
advises a chain of supermarkets in Belgium and has
been a faculty member at the Estoril Portuguese Cuisine
Higher School of Hotels and Tourism since 2006. With
his own restaurant in Lisbon, Terreiro do PaÁo, he also
runs a consulting company “Aromateca.” His vast experi-
ence and knowledge of the territory meant he would have
Vitor Sobral
to experiment with local ingredients in the preparation
of his dishes. Salt and pine nuts were the only ingridients
Sobral brought from Portugal.
flown in
To slash the risk factor, three-star Michelin Mas-
terchef Jean-Michel Lorain brought all the ingredients
from his usual suppliers in France. His concern is with
quality and flavour and also food security in the wake of
recent food scandals in mainland China. Lorain manages
a business which has been handed down from generation
to generation in the south of France. He runs a small 32-
room hotel and restaurant and is set to open a Spa.
oysters with roasted eggplant Prawn with cassava
For now Lorain is happy with the results, while
puree and cockles vinaigrette and coconut milk and caviar
acknowledging that the economic downturn will have an
negative effect: “In October we had a 20 percent increase
in customers.”
If Sobral’s goal is to continue as a travelling Portu-
guese culinary missionary, sacrificing family life, Lorain
wants to continue at the helm of his current business, for
which he already has a successor, his daughter. Tradition
is at the centre of his business philosophy “because it is
good for the confidence of customers’’, he says.
“Managing a business is not easy. The name of the
chef is not enough to make the business, you need to win
a good reputation, since the best promotion is done by
word of mouth. If the kitchen is seen as a little enterprise,
Seafood and cod fillet rice cassava and ginger filled pastry,
it needs a chef to lead,” says Lorain. lychee salad with petal roses
december 2008
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