New chef David Abreu at the well-known António restaurant is giving authentic Portuguese cuisine a lift with the “super power” he acquired from experience working in a Michelin three-star establishment.
With new dishes added to the menu, Abreu said that he wanted to give customers a bite of Portugal, using a blend of French, British and also Chinese culinary concepts to deliver a fresh new presentation of Portuguese cuisine.
The restaurant has kept its classic dishes as such as seafood rice, duck rice, suckling pig and grilled codfish for patrons looking for a typical Portuguese gastronomic experience, but for patrons who’d like to explore a bit, some of the new dishes that Abreu has introduced include braised sardines with corn bread toast, mashed bread with codfish, and grilled veal loin “Mirandesa” with a new presentation, “but without forgetting the Portuguese flavours,” Abreu stressed, in a recent e-mail interview with The Macau Post Daily.
“Knowing where we come from, it is very important that we never lose our identity. I always say this is always the focus on our purpose and never skip any process in the kitchen and sometimes what is more difficult is the easy way. And for us our big objective is to do it properly and never cut corners. And like that we never lose any authenticity,” Abreu said.
Since its opening in 2007 in Taipa Village, António has been a Michelin Guide Hong Kong & Macau “Recommended” restaurant for the past 11 years.
Now heading the culinary team and overseeing the menu of António, Abreu said that the pressure is always there, and it’s about how it is being handled.
Coming from a three Michelin star restaurant in England, the oldest French restaurant outside France, Abreu said that the experience has given him a super power to cope with stress that is thrown at him.
Codfish Mashed Bread Paste
Portuguese sausage “au flambé”
Braised sardines and sautéed vegetables with vinegar 
Grilled veal loin “Mirandesa”
Photo taken during a recent media tasting session at António
Photos: Monica Leong
