Restaurant review – Beira Alta

As the holiday season is in full swing I would like to take this opportunity to wish all the restaurants and hotels the best of luck for this season, I know how crazy it can get – so all the best.
For our last review of 2010 we have Beira Alta under the spotlight. This restaurant, based at the Lifestyle Centre is a very versatile venue. I have eaten there on numerous occasions and their food is always good but I do find them a bit expensive compared to other restaurants in the area.
The Prawn Bisque I had for a starter was amazing and had a deep, rich prawn flavour. The one drawback for me was the way that the soup was presented. You have this delicious soup on a plain doily with some bruschetta – they didn’t complement each other. I did not stick to my usual order for the main and rather had a Prawn a Bras – thinly sliced chips with prawn meat and whole prawns bound together with egg. I must say this dish was awesome and the texture and flavour were stunning. I did notice that the restaurant uses a lot a black pepper and madagascar green pepper – which I know is typical Portuguese cuisine – but I found it a little heavy-handed. Beira Alta’s food is true Portuguese cuisine and the venue complements the menu beautifully. The service was great, my waiter was friendly and polite but I would have liked to have seen a manager or maître d walking around checking on tables as this always adds to the personal feel of a restaurant.