Hush-Hush Garden - Officially open for the season! 

After publishing the menu for last Saturday, inspired by the warm spring days and the upcoming Easter, we went to the Herdade do Freixo do Meio shop to buy all the fresh products we needed to prep the dinner. We bought season vegies like turnip, leeks, beetroots, smoked bacon and oranges. The quails came from the local store as well as the eggs, the watercress, the almonds and the raspberries.  From the HH Garden we got lemons, all the aromatic herbs and LOTS of flowers!

Friday was an intensive working day in the kitchen and also in the back office with last minute cancelations from the guests or last minute reservations or even annulments of the last minute cancelations… totally crazy! But it turned up ok in the end when we gathered an amazing group of guests!





Bruno from We Hate Tourism Tours and his partner Damian, manager of an hostel in one of the most beautiful spots in Lisbon (Stª Catarina) were the first to arrive and were immediately greeted in the garden with a Porto tonic. They were followed by Chris, an American in Lisbon, and his friend Markus from Salzburg.

Ten minutes later was the time to Carly, an English yoga teacher and her good friend Bell, a Portuguese who lived in Germany, to arrive.

The group was completed with me, Rita, João and Ricardo, the hosts!



Tapenade, beet hummus and broa de milho (corn bread)





Turnip soup with home-made Azores cheese crackers



    The wine Casa da Carvalha, from Dão, was a perfect companion throughout the dinner and the dessert was sparked by a great Moscatel de Setúbal from Venâncio da Costa Lima followed by the exquisite Moscatel Roxo from Sivipa which pared with the almond pie made by Rita, a winning combination! 






Rose jelly



Wet orange sponge cake with HH Garden tangerine ice cream







Almond pie in cubes



    It was a great dinner, with perfect company and very interesting people. We loved it and hope our guests loved it to! 

The next adventure will be the 7th of May, hopefully with a warmer night so we can eat outside under the stars.