this menu is no longer being served. it remains here as part of Venn's seasonal archive.
alho-francês · espargos · trigo-sarraceno
alho-francês em conserva · creme de aveia · sal sulfúrico · espargos · acelga · capuchinha · trigo-sarraceno tufado · vinagrete de casca de banana · arruda
sour leeks · oat cream · · asparagus · swiss chard · nasturtium · puffed buckwheat · banana skin vinaigrette ·
Kala namak. A mineral salt from South Asia. Its sulphur compounds occur naturally in the rock; they give plant-based dishes a faint, egg-like note.
Ruta graveolens. Bitter, aromatic, with a faint citrus edge. An ancient herb, used sparingly.
Maria Prada (Sweet Green) · Agroflorestal dos Corotos · wild vegetation
this dish arrived with Sedef, our Turkish colleague. a friend of hers once served sour leeks at a pop-up here: whole leeks, slowly braised in lemon, white pepper, dill stems and herb stalks left from the day. the leek, usually a background note, becomes the dish.
beneath: oat cream with kala namak, a sulphuric salt that gives a quiet, egg-like softness. turmeric for colour. the acidity stays bright, without becoming sharp. puffed buckwheat for crunch. above, asparagus (fava beans as the season turns), swiss chard and nasturtium in banana skin vinegar. common rue to finish, from an agroforestry farm. somewhere between tarragon and orange. it opens the whole dish.
feijões fermentados · creme de girassol · ervas silvestres
feijões cannellini lacto-fermentados · kombucha · cerveja de gengibre caseira · creme azedo de girassol · azeite de ervas silvestres · acelga · borragem · chalotas · óleo de dente-de-leão · flores sazonais
cannellini beans · kombucha · house-made ginger beer · sunflower sour cream · wild greens oil · swiss chard · borage · shallots · oil · seasonal flowers
Fermentation driven by Lactobacillus bacteria already present in the ingredient or its environment. They consume natural sugars and produce lactic acid. No vinegar, no heat, no additives.
Taraxacum officinale. A wild plant so common it is overlooked. Every part is edible: root, leaf, flower. Gathered from unmown land.
MAI Kombucha (Leça da Palmeira) · Maria Prada (Sweet Green) · Agroflorestal dos Corotos · Formiga Gloriosa
beans have always anchored Monika's plant-based cooking. cannellini, fermented with MAI and our ginger beer, become something less expected: creamy, faintly sparkling, fatty in the best sense. they cook with juniper, cloves and allspice. a slow, spiced broth, somewhere between a game stew and a forest.
above: sunflower sour cream, lacto-fermented for two days, emulsified with sunflower oil and lemon. green oil from plantain, nettles and pennywort, depending on what Maria and Marcelo bring that week. salted chard stems. pickled shallots. borage for cucumber. flowers, because spring.
cogumelos eryngii · curd de limão · cinza de alho-francês
cogumelo ostra-rei · molho de soja · vinagre de arroz · alface-do-mar · cinza de alho-francês · azeite de pimentão fumado · curd de casca de limão · creme de amêndoa · flores de coentro · cerefólio
king oyster mushroom · soy sauce · rice vinegar · · leek ash · smoked paprika oil · lemon skin curd · almond cream · coriander flowers ·
Ulva lactuca. A bright green seaweed farmed by ALGAplus in the Ria de Aveiro. High in protein, iron and iodine. Its glutamates carry the same umami signal as dried kombu.
Anthriscus cerefolium. A fine-leafed herb from the parsley family. Lighter than tarragon, quieter than anise; a brief, almost cooling note. It wilts quickly and is used at the last moment.
H2Douro · Gustavo Bruver (Nuances Frescas) · ALGAplus
we are in the land of seafood. this is ours. king oyster mushrooms, marinated for three days in soy, rice vinegar and sea lettuce from ALGAplus. hot marinade, then time. the texture does the rest.
leek tops from the first dish are burnt and blended with smoked paprika. oil carries that mixture: smoke, somewhere around Vigo, a bonfire on the coast. alongside, lemon curd made from every saved skin, simmered for pectin, emulsified with olive oil. no eggs. almond cream rounds it. chervil and coriander flowers.
massa de kamut · batata-doce · caldo de cenoura
trigo khorasan · farinha de barbela · batata-doce · cenoura · alho confitado · batata picasso · caldo de cenoura · pão ralado · raspa de limão · ervas frescas e espontâneas
khorasan wheat · · sweet potato · carrot · confit garlic · · carrot broth · breadcrumbs · lemon zest · fresh and wild herbs
A near-extinct Portuguese wheat variety, now in recovery. Lower in gluten than modern wheat; more flavour, more texture. One of the varieties being reintroduced through seed-saving projects in the north.
A heritage variety with deep red skin and firm yellow flesh, grown in the Douro valley. Its low water content holds through the filling without collapsing. Named for the blotched pattern of its skin.
H2Douro (picasso potato · sweet potato · carrot) · Agroflorestal dos Corotos (wild herbs)
the dough is kamut, an ancient Persian wheat with a deep, slightly buttery character, blended with barbela, an old Portuguese variety. the filling is sweet potato, carrot and confit garlic, roasted until caramelised, then blended. the broth they cooked in returns to the plate. nothing leaves.
breadcrumbs from our bread, toasted. lemon zest, fresh herbs and wild greens. an old combination, kept simple. a pause after the intensity of the beans.
cebola queimada · alt 'choc' · alfarroba
cebola assada lentamente · THIC alt 'choc' · molho alt 'choc' com 10 especiarias · alfarroba · sésamo preto · sementes de papoila · tamari · gengibre · gengibre fermentado · azeite de malagueta · funcho
slow-roasted onion · THIC alt 'choc' · 10-spice alt 'choc' sauce · · black sesame · poppy seeds · tamari · ginger · fermented ginger · chili oil · fennel
Ceratonia siliqua. The fruit of a Mediterranean tree cultivated on the Iberian peninsula since antiquity. Before cocoa arrived in Europe, carob was its sweet, dark counterpart: ground into powder, used in confectionery, traded across the Mediterranean. Naturally sweet; no added sugar needed.
H2Douro · Ecoseiva · Endless Food Co. (THIC)
an onion, roasted for three hours, low and slow, with cloves, tamari and ginger. long enough to become something else: dark, collapsing, umami through and through. it sits on a chocolate sauce made from THIC by Endless Food Company, built from upcycled beer grains and cocoa husks, blended here with ten spices. somewhere between a Christmas mole and a Mexican one.
beside it: carob and black sesame cake, slightly bitter, slightly earthy. a nod to porter cake, without the porter. fermented ginger syrup and our chilli oil cut through with heat and sharp freshness. fennel for lift. the most intense dish on the menu.
polenta · cogumelos silvestres · gelado de bolota
polenta frita · creme de shiitake · pó de boletos · cogumelos silvestres (silarca · morel · cantarelo) · farinha de bolota · gelado de levedura de cerveja · marmite caseira · melaço de casa
deep-fried polenta · shiitake cream · porcini powder · wild mushrooms ( · · ) · acorn flour · brewer's yeast ice cream · · house treacle
Amanita ponderosa. A wild mushroom prized in Portugal and Spain, found in cork oak and pine forests. Firmer and meatier than most amanitas; earthy, with a faint smoky note. Seasonal and foraged; availability determines whether it appears.
Morchella. A spring mushroom with a hollow, deeply ridged cap. Intensely savoury; the honeycomb structure traps fat and sauce. Short season, rarely farmed; foraged from forest edges and orchards. One of the markers of spring.
Cantharellus cibarius. Golden, funnel-shaped, with a faint fruity scent. Found in oak and beech forests after rain. One of the few wild mushrooms that cannot be cultivated at scale; every one is foraged.
Not the jar. The technique. Marmite (French: cooking pot) refers to a long-reduced stock built from vegetable trimmings, mushroom stems and cooking water accumulated over days. Ours is vegan by nature.
Gustavo Bruver (Nuances Frescas) · LandraTech (bolota)
polenta is back. it was a staple in the early menus, before the restaurant knew what it would become. fried to a golden crust, soft inside. the cream alongside is made from shiitake stems and caps, cooked slowly until the mushrooms give everything to an almost gelatinous sauce. porcini powder. house marmite, reduced from ten litres of kitchen scraps to a hundred millilitres of pure umami.
wild mushrooms alongside: chanterelles when Gustavo has them, morels, silarca, sautéed with garlic and pepper. acorn ice cream to close: earthy and sweet, slightly unexpected.
3% of the tasting menu price went to Associação Verde while this menu was served.
cheesecake de macadâmia · xarope de 'cola'
macadâmia fermentada · agar agar · amêndoa e noz · alfarroba · xarope de 'cola' · lima · limão · açúcar mascavado · especiarias · flor de sino japonesa · jasmim
fermented · agar agar · almond and walnut base · carob · 'cola' syrup · lime · lemon · brown sugar · spices · · jasmine
Macadamia integrifolia. Native to Australia; one of the highest-fat nuts, close to 70% lipid. That fat content makes it the most convincing base for fermented nut cheese: bacteria have enough to work with.
Platycodon grandiflorus. Cultivated in East Asia for centuries as both a medicinal root and a garden flower. The blossom opens from a balloon-like bud into a five-pointed star. Subtle, faintly bitter, without overpowering anything alongside it.
Azenha do Pombal (almonds) · Agroflorestal dos Corotos (flowers)
macadamia, fermented for three to five days until it becomes genuinely cheesy. Monika is Polish. she will tell you cheesecake is the dessert most missed in plant-based cooking. she will also tell you she no longer misses it. set with agar agar to the texture of a baked cheesecake. the base: Portuguese almonds from Azenha do Pombal, raw walnuts, carob, and the oils of the nuts themselves.
the syrup alongside began as a panettone-like essence on a previous menu and turned into something else: the idea of 'cola'. brown sugar, lime, lemon, citrus zest, magic spices. our sous chef did not want it on the menu. it is on the menu. flowers from Marcelo.
donut · flor de sabugueiro · gelado de camomila
donut assado · açúcar caramelizado · flor de sabugueiro · maçã · gelado de camomila
baked donut · caramelised sugar · · apple · chamomile ice cream
Sambucus nigra. Flowers from the elder tree, available for two to three weeks in late spring. Musky, honeyed, with a faint grape-like note that disappears the moment the season ends. Picked and used immediately.
H2Douro (apple) · Agroflorestal dos Corotos (elderflower · chamomile)
the doughnut never appeared on a venn menu. it was time. this one is baked, not fried. caramelised sugar outside, warm from the oven, split open and bathed in elderflower.
alongside: chamomile ice cream. the effect sits between a warm doughnut and a mug of chamomile tea with a little milk.
lavanda · milho · laranja
creme de lavanda · milho · xarope de kozu · geleia de laranja · tuile de milho branco · Laranja do Douro · Laranja da Pala
lavender custard · corn · syrup · orange jelly · white corn · ·
A fermented citrus syrup. Here made from Portuguese oranges pressed and slowly reduced. The brief fermentation is natural; it builds depth without tipping the fruit into vinegar. Concentrated enough to hold its character through the dish.
From the French word for a curved roof tile. A thin, crisp wafer spread to translucency and baked or dried flat. Here made with white corn, gluten-free and fragile.
Laranja do Douro. A regional variety grown on the terraced slopes of the Douro valley, harvested by H2Douro. The altitude and schist soils give a thicker skin and more aromatic zest than coastal oranges.
Laranja da Pala. Another variety from the Douro basin, from the area around Pala. Softer, sweeter, and more perishable than the Douro orange; rarely leaves the region.
Agroflorestal dos Corotos (lavender) · H2Douro (Laranja do Douro · Laranja da Pala)
a breakfast for dinner, by way of confession. this is Monika's favourite breakfast, and she slipped it onto the menu as dessert. lavender from Marcelo, steeped into corn custard thickened with cornstarch. a reference to papas de milho, a dish that has lived here in different forms for centuries.
alongside: kozu syrup from Laranja do Douro and Laranja da Pala from H2Douro, two regional Portuguese oranges from the Douro and Pala areas. lightly fizzy, slightly fermented, bitter, sweet, floral. the oranges that made it become jelly. white corn tuile for crunch. a calm, fragrant close.
