Portuguese fave makes triumphant return

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 19/06/2009 (6267 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

This brand new Chave d’Ouro (the name means golden key) has had the longest gestation of any restaurant I can remember, and the owners must be heartily sick of my frequent phone calls, asking if it was open yet and, if not, when. Possibly they finally did open just to put an end to those pesky calls.

The previous premises on Sargent Avenue closed about two years ago, leaving fans of that little Portuguese restaurant desperate for their fix of its fabled rotisserie-roasted chicken. Did I know where they had gone, they asked, and when, if ever, would they return.

I finally tracked down owners Estela and Armando Fernandes after they decided to get back in the business, and bought this bright yellow building on the corner of Ellice and Wall (a former Royal Bank). It’s been a rocky road, partly because of reconstruction delays, and partly because, I suspect, the Fernandeses became conflicted about what they wanted to do.

At first it was going to be a full-scale restaurant. Then it would be open for takeout only. Then mostly takeout, but with a few tables for in-house snacks. At one point they were going to scrap the whole thing altogether. Well, at long last it has opened, a small (35 to 40 seats) but full-scale restaurant, with everything also available for takeout.

The decor has no distinguishing characteristics; it’s just an airy and pleasant room. The menu isn’t as extensive as it had been on Sargent — several appetizers, a few sandwiches and salads, and just three main courses, which made it easy for this reviewer to cover all of them. It is the same at lunch and dinner, and entrée prices range from $12.95 to $18.95, including a crisp tossed salad.

Everything on the menu is Portuguese, and everything I tried was delicious, not least that spit-roasted chicken, which is done to a perfect state of juicy tenderness, and accompanied by equally delicious chunks of roasted potatoes that are finished under the chicken, absorbing some of their juices. It is excellent plain, but for my taste it’s even better when brushed with the nippy piri-piri chili sauce. The chicken comes in quarters, halves or whole, the last for $30.95 (it will serve four easily), and if you buy the entire bird for takeout it’s a steal at $15, including 12 big pieces of potato (order it two hours in advance).

Bacalhao, i.e. dried salted cod, which is also on the permanent menu, is known in Portugual as 365 because there is said to be a different recipe for every day of the year. Here it is prepared a bras — desalted, sautéed with shoestring potatoes, onions, garlic and scrambled eggs, then finished with a sprinkle of little black olives. And it is wonderful. So is the third regular on the menu, febras grelhadas — grilled medallions of wine-marinated pork loin with sauteed onions, garnished with more of those roasted potatoes and, at dinner, wonderfully tasty rice as well.

There are also daily specials, and it’s worth phoning to ask what’s on that day. I was rewarded with two winners. One day it was pork alentejana — cubes of pork cooked with tiny clams, potato, slivers of red pepper and onions, and redolent of paprika and white wine.

Another day it was seafood rice that was marvellously moist and flavourful; it was decked out with shrimp, crab legs, little clams and big mussels and wee rings of calamari (another day it might be whatever seafoods are at hand). Other possible specials include octopus salad, or such entrees as roasted cod, Portuguese steak topped by a fried egg, or spicy Cajun shrimp.

Entree portions are generous — in some cases enough for two to share, especially if preceded by one or more of the appetizers, all $8.95 to $9.95, and also sized for sharing. Next time I’d skip the mussels, which tasted frozen, but all the others were lovely. Shrimp turnovers, for instance, of fine pastry filled with tiny shrimp in a light bechamel. Or the firm and flavourful pan-fried shrimp in a paprika-spiked white wine sauce. Or the subtly flavoured and almost ethereal codfish croquettes.

Portugal is famous for its sweets, and this is where to indulge in them. Prices range from $1, for a chocolate cookie, to $3.95 for the glorious bolo do diabo — the devil’s chocolate cake — which, apparently, is one of Portugal’s most popular desserts, a dense, dark, chocolate cake, layered with Kahlua-spiked espresso butter cream and topped by the occasional coffee bean. In between there are a richly eggy flan, a bread pudding so satiny smooth you won’t believe it’s made with bread, a light sponge cake with pineapple cubes and a butter cream icing, and a remarkably moist coconut tart. Every one of them delicious.

Service is friendly and obliging; they’ll make any Portuguese dish you request that’s within their capability. Wines are mostly Portuguese — we had a summery-light aveleda vinho verde for a mere $18. Yes, the whole bottle.

Credit and debit machines should be available soon, but if you’re short on cash phone first to make sure. An added plus, the parking lot in the rear.

marion.warhaft@freepress.mb.ca

RESTAURANT REVIEW

Chave d’Ouro

1060 Ellice Ave., 783-9090

Licensed

Wheelchair access

Four stars out of 5