COVETED MAGAZINE PAGE 101.
As soon as you enter Ocean, the signature restaurant of Vila Vita
Parc, you are immediately stunned by the sublime food and seam-
less service. The main speciality of the restaurant is definitely fresh-
ly-caught seafood and our luxury magazine had the chance to speak
to the person that manages the fish station, Rui, who explained us a
bit of the process that goes behind the restaurant’s exceptional fish
dishes. Rui has been working at Vila Vita Parc for almost three years,
having previously worked on several restaurants in England, Austra-
lia and Ireland, so he has been in this industry for quite some time.
When we were talking to Rui we actually had the opportunity to see
him do his magic as he was preparing the base for Açorda, a typical-
ly Portuguese dish. When asked what is the main challenge that he
faces every day, Rui answered, “To do better. To get to the end of
the day and understand what went well and what went wrong.” He
also shared kind words about the impressive leadership skills of Chef
Hans Neuner, “He’s really creative and he’s very good at delegating
his team. That’s something that takes time to learn.” Furthermore,
Rui values the importance of using regional products in their dishes
as it honours our culture, history and national identity. The cook has
always been quite passionate about cuisine, disclosing that
“I’ve always loved eating and cooking for myself.
The most important is the pleasure for the food ...
I’m more inspired by foods from different places.
At 19, I decided to start, I had finished school and
didn’t know what to do, so I decided to be a cook.”
Before presenting a dish, a lot of thought goes into its creation. Ac-
cording to Rui, the team often leaves everything ready before the
evening in order to provide the best dining experience possible and be
ahead of any possible challenges that may appear. We were also curi-
ous about the process of creating new dishes to which Rui respond-
ed, “It’s spontaneous, it depends on the time we have, the people and
the produce.” Nevertheless, Hans Neuner and the team are careful
when presenting new dishes to guests, there is a lot of experimenting
that goes into this before actually delivering because everything has
to be perfect until the very last detail. These creations can actually
either be made from scratch or more about finding the flavour or
even both, as Rui clarifies,
“It’s a mixture of both. We want to have good
looking things that also taste good. There are a lot of
restaurants that serve visually appealing food, but
it isn’t flavourful. There are many where it doesn’t
look that nice, but the flavour is excellent, those are
the ones I prefer.”
RUI PINTO
OCEAN RESTAURANT’S SOU-CHEF
HOTELS WE COVET //
