Algarve Chefs Week: From 26 April to 3 May do not miss this luxury culinary week in the Algarve.

Ten Chefs, Ten Restaurants, Ten Hotels, 1 Price

The annual Algarve Chefs Week culinary festival will return for a mouth-watering fifth edition from 26 April – 3 May 2015. 

Dubbed “Algarve Chefs Week 5.0”, this year’s event brings together 10 top Chefs from the Algarve’s finest hotels to create one-off celebratory menus inspired by five of the region’s most characteristic products: Flor de Sal, dried figs, carob, fava beans and oranges.

The week-long gastronomic event sees each of the 10 participating chefs create their own special menus, pairing unique flavours with regional wines in a celebration of the Algarve’s most characteristic products. 

Following the official launch of Algarve Chefs Week at the Mercado de Loulé on 25 April, this year’s special menus will be available for dinner in the restaurants of the participating hotels from 26 April – 3 May. Prices start from €30 per person excluding drinks, and once again €1 from each meal will be donated to the homeless charity CASA.

For the first time, this year’s Algarve Chefs Week will be preceded by a series of gastronomic workshops, hosted by the 10 participating chefs. From 3pm on the afternoons of 4, 11 and 18 April, visitors to the Mercado de Loulé can learn how to make a variety of dishes based on the best Algarvean ingredients and flavours. Algarve Chefs Week 5.0 will also be marked by the publication of a special cookbook including some of the best dishes created for the event over the past five years.

Algarve Chefs Week 5.0 will feature:

-Chef Andrew McGuie – Restaurante Louro, Conrad Algarve

-Chef Bruno Rocha – Restaurante EMO, Hotel Tivoli Victoria

-Chef Jan Stechemesser – Restaurante À Terra, Praia Verde Boutique Hotel

-Chef José Leitão – Restaurante Moonlight, Nau Salgados Palace

-Chef Luis Mourão – Restaurante Alquimia, Hotel Epic Sana Algarve

-Chef Miguel Lourenço – The Olive Tree, Hotel Vale d’Oliveiras

-Chef Miguel Teixeira – Restaurante Koi, Vidamar Resort Algarve

-Chef Osvalde Silva – Restaurante O Grill, Pine Cliffs Residence, a Luxury Collection Resort

-Chef Ricardo Ferreira – Restaurante Pepper’s, Hotel Tivoli Marina Vilamoura

-Chef Vitor Monteiro – Restaurante L14, Nau Salgados Dunas Suites

Gastronomy Workshops – Mercado de Loulé (Loulé’s Market):

- April 4, Saturday:

3:00 PM (José Leitão): Starters

4:00 PM (Vitor Monteiro): Main Course

5:00 PM (Osvalde Silva): Dessert

- April 11, Saturday:

3:00 PM (Miguel Lourenço): Starters

4:00 PM (Luis Mourão): Main Course

5:00 PM (Bruno Rocha): Dessert

- April 18, Saturday:

3:00 PM (Andrew Mcggie): Starters

3:45 PM (Ricardo Ferreira): Fish

4:30 PM (Miguel Teixeira): Meat

5:15 PM (Jan Stechemesser): Dessert

Find more information at:
-  http://www.algarvechefsweek.com
-  https://www.facebook.com/AlgarveChefsWeek
-  The Cuisine of the Algarve
-  The Algarve
-  Mountain and Ocean Flavours of the Algarve
-  Algarve Regional Cooking 

Source: Algarve Chefs Week

New reservation portal for Tourism in the Country

As part of its Portugal – Country and Sea campaign, Turihab and Center have launched a new portal for Tourism in the Country accommodation units, bringing together the brands “Solares de Portugal”, "Aldeias de Portugal" and “Casas de Campo.”

The portal lists accommodation offerings in the 7 Portuguese tourism regions and has been completely rebuilt with a new, modern image, attractive colours, simple language and facilitating more effective searches.

The new portal was created keeping in mind new market trends and needs, which are increasingly more dynamic, more demanding and thirsty for excellence in products and services.

Please visit www.center.pt

From 9 to 19 April, don´t miss the Lisboa Fish & Flavours 2015

From 9 to 19 April, Terreiro do Paço will be home to the gastronomic event Lisboa Fish & Flavours 2015 where top restaurants and chefs from Portugal and abroad meet to present their fish and shellfish cuisine.

The 8^th edition of the event features live cooking sessions, with the creation of innovative gastronomic specialties inspired by the theme of seafood cuisine. The event will feature ten leading restaurants in Lisboa open daily from 12pm to midnight

In addition to the tastings at the restaurants, which will be in continuous operation during the event 12 hours per day, and live cooking presentations, Lisboa Fish & Flavours also features a gourmet market with hundreds of mainly Portuguese products to sample and buy. There will also be cooking classes where visitors can learn culinary skills and techniques.

The 10 participating restaurants at this edition include: Arola By Penha Longa; José Avillez; Las Ficheras (new); Kiko Martins; O Nobre / Nobre Estoril; Pap'Açorda (new); Ribamar; Sushi Café (new); Taberna da Rua das Flores, Flores Bairro Alto Hotel (new); and Vítor Sobral. The live cooking sessions event in the Auditorium will feature the following Portuguese and international chefs: Leonel Pereira (one Michelin star); Ricardo Costa (one Michelin star); Pedro Lemos (one Michelin star); Belmiro de Jesus; Leonardo Pereira; Tomoaki Nakazawa; Vítor Sobral; Joan Roca (three Michelin stars); Quique Dacosta (three Michelin stars); Mauro Colagreco (two Michelin stars); and Rafael Costa e Silva.

For this event you can purchase vouchers of 2,5 and 8 euros with tastings from 4 euros up to a maximum of 14 euros. In addition a one day ticket will cost 15 euros whilst a one day ticket for a group of 5 people costs 60 euros (includes 1 drink and 1 tasting).

Full program available here

More information at:
-http://www.peixemlisboa.com/informations
- https://www.visitportugal.com/Lisbon Fish and Flavours
- https://www.facebook.com/peixemlisboa
- http://www.youtube.com/EssenciaVinhoTV

Source: Peixe em Lisboa and Lisboa Inside 

It´s started yesterday in Estoril the 2015 World Food Tourism Summit

The 2015 World Food Tourism Summit will be held April 8-11 at the Estoril CongressCenter. 

This event will gather international food & beverage professionals, tourism & hospitality organizations, trade groups, associations, governments, researchers, media, students and other specialists to showcase gastronomy novelties and discuss emerging cuisine trends around the world.

Topics for discussion will include: gastronomy destinations, new food tourism icons, creative tourism and gastronomy experiences to policies for gastronomy heritage and public-private partnerships for gastronomy tourism promotion and commercialization and much more…

The occasion, which will serve as an international forum at which specialists in food tourism and relevant fields may exchange the latest products and services,  will feature 25 speakers and the European Street Food Festival in collaboration with other European countries featuring street food vehicles and mobile food concepts from Lisbon, London, Paris, Berlin and many other European cities.

This event will be held in Estoril,  a wonderful city near from Lisbon and very much worth visiting,  is organized by the Portuguese Culinary and Economic Tourism Association - APTECE. 

More information at:
- http://worldfoodtourismsummit.com/
- https://www.facebook.com/PortugalAPTECE
- https://twitter.com/aptece
- https://instagram.com/portugal_aptece/

Source: World Food Tourism Summit

Madeira Flower Festival 2015: 16-22 April

In Madeira, springtime is honoured like a queen, being crowned with the Flower Festival, held every year after Easter.

In celebrating springtime and the exuberance of the flowers that typically bloom in that season, and here with even greater intensity due to Madeira’s subtropical climate, Funchal is the setting for a truly sumptuous spectacle, the city’s Flower Festival.

The festivities begin on the Saturday, when thousands of children dressed in the appropriate fashion flock to the Praça do Município to take part in the building of a mural of flowers - the Wall of Hope.

The next day, dozens of floats decorated with a myriad of the island’s most typical flowers leave the scent of gentle but ephemeral perfumes in the air - it is time for the Flower Parade. At the same time, to mark the occasion, Madeiran artists devote their time to building unforgettable floral carpets, strategically exhibited in the streets at different points, whilst competitions are also organised to find the best decorated shop windows.

Come and experience the springtime here too! 

Find more information at: http://festadaflor.visitmadeira.pt

Braga: Holy Week Festivals 2015

Experience Holy Week in the ancient city of Braga, in the region Porto e Norte. 

The city is decorated with motifs related to the occasion and the passos, street-side altars, are filled with flowers and lights, complementing the sumptuousness of the churches.

In Porto and the North of Portugal, in accordance with tradition, the Easter celebration of the Resurrection marks the end of Lent and a return to traditional gastronomy - such as oven-roasted kid, sponge cake, almonds and port wine.

To ensure you don't miss any of the events, here is the full agenda for Holy Week in Braga:

• March 28 - Transfer of the Statue of “Senhor dos Passos” (Our Lord of the Stations of the Cross)
• March 29- Procession of the Stations of the Cross
• April      1 - Procession of the Virgin of the “donkey”
• April      2 - Ecce Homo procession
• April      3 - Procession of the Burial of the Lord
• April      4 - Easter vigil and Procession of the Resurrection
• April       5- Easter Sunday Solemn Mass and Easter visit

To download the Brochure click here.

More information about the Holy Week in Braga here:
- http://www.semanasantabraga.com
- https://www.facebook.com/pages/Semana-Santa-de-Braga

April 2015 "Follow Me": Lisbon monthly tourist Guide for visitors

Before you visit Lisbon, check "Follow me Lisboa" and discover what´s happening in the Lisboa region during the next month of August.

Follow Me Lisboa is a monthly tourist Guide for visitors.

A bilingual publication in Spanish and English, it is a pocket-sized publication containing the main cultural and other events to interest to the tourist and a complete itinerary to museums, monuments, parks, gardens, hotels and restaurants.





Find more about Lisboa region at:
- Lisboa Region
- http://www.visitlisboa.com/
- Brochure "A personal Experience"
- Brochure "City Breaks"