Overlooking Lisbon, across the street from the National Academy of Fine Arts, Epur assumes itself as a “product temple” where chef Vincent Farges takes the leadership.
Before opening Epur, the French chef Vincent Farges worked at the Michelin star restaurant of Hotel Fortaleza do Guincho.
The atmosphere resonates the Scandinavian minimalism yet, with Portuguese touches, as the blue tiles adorning the walls, the ceiling designed by the Portuguese architects Guedes Cruz Arquitectos, reflecting the tiles or, the view that leaves no doubt that we are in Lisbon.
Inside there’s a lounge/waiting area to taste wine and a private room for more intimate dinners. In the private realm, the kitchen, designed by both VF and Bulthaup, is every chef’s dream.
As the name anticipates, Epur stands for pureness, for the essential, for the minimal, yet not simplistic nor reduced. It aims to reach the crème de la crème, to awaken the senses at its deepest. Epur comes to Vincent to establish a connection with the producers: “I cook what comes from the producer. I am not going to force them to produce in excess just because. I cook what they bring me, and if they don’t bring me what I want, I cook something else”. As VF defends “there isn’t a better way to leverage creativity than to challenge it daily”.
Hence nothing is described on the menu, which can make it harder for the waiters to describe something always different.
There are three degustation menu options, with four, six or eight moments accordingly. For lunch, there is also a menu, which includes a starter, a main dish, and a dessert.
Don’t expect spherifications or any sort of molecular cuisine, nor the opposite, very heavy dishes. The portions are reduced to the essential so that everyone can finish the eight-course menu, for example. At Epur nothing happens by chance and everything is thought out, expect subtlety and finesse.
Epur, Largo da Academia Nacional de Belas Artes, Lisbon, Portugal
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