
Fusion food at Las dos Manos, Chef Kiko’s Lisbon restaurant, is all about Japanese and Mexican blends with a taste of other cultures. It’s excellent!
Las Dos Manos is a little haven away from the busy Principe Real, full of people walking up and down, tuk-tuks, and loud traffic.
This restaurant has an excellent vibe, and you will love its colorful Mexican-style atmosphere.
I love it when a staff member asks if I want to sit at the counter or a table.
Do you find that strange?
When I eat alone at a nicer restaurant, several things can happen to me:
When I don’t have a reservation, I’ll get seated at the counter, which is fair.
When I reserve a table, I’ll get seated by the toilets behind a column or at the counter.
When I reserved, I’d be asked to wait for a long time and then get a seat facing the wall, where the staff would ignore me.
When I went to Las dos Manos, I sat at an excellent table with a view of Frida Kahlo’s portrait and the counter! It was perfect.
So, my fellow solo travelers and solo diners, this will be a great place for you to eat in Lisbon!
While I was settling in and studying the menu, the waiter brought tortilla chips, guacamole, fried giant corn nuts, creamy, fluffy butter, edamame, and malagueta pepper. Everything was delicious, and I was looking forward to the next dish.
You can order the tasting menu, which has many great options, but I’ve been eating less food lately, not only because I want to lose weight but also because I was going out for dinner on that same day.
I went for the most fusion dish on the menu: tortilla, black tiger prawn tempura, panko, and Creole passion fruit salsa.
When I bit into the tempura shrimp, I was happy to see how crunchy the outside was and how soft the shrimp was. The tempura shrimp and the passion fruit salsa perfectly combine salty and sweet. I loved the mix of cultures and all the textures and aromas—delicious!
It was nice to see a Brazilian influence in Las dos Manos. The malagueta is a very hot pepper from the north of Brazil, and the passion fruit reminded me of some Brazilian food. But it’s not in any specific and traditional dish.
Fusion food is becoming very popular and an important part of our world, blending different cultures in diverse, mixed, and often wonderfully mysterious ways!
I’ve been more curious about fusion food because it makes eating so much more fun.
Chef Kiko is a master at blending foods!
So, when you go to Las dos Manos, remember it’s a fusion of cultures and flavors. It’s not just a Japanese and Mexican restaurant.
Fusion food combines ingredients, spices, foods, and sauces from different cultures to create a new dish with new flavors, textures, and aromas.
The secret to good fusion food is in the details of the dishes. It takes many tries to get it right!
My nephew cooked an excellent meal for the family during my last trip to Brazil and eventually shared his secret!
Fusion is fun.
Don’t you love to customize recipes? I always change ingredients and add my favorite spices. The Flavor Matrix’s food combination charts will help you to create new fusions.
Another great book for fusion food is Food and Life by Joëel Robuchon and Dr. Nadia Volf.
Marguerite Beaty, Blogger, Photographer & Artist
Welcome to the sunny side of life for women over 50! We aim to create a space where women feel empowered, supported, and inspired to lead their best lives after 50. Join our Instagram!
Share this article with your friends!
Stay tuned & subscribe to our newsletter
© 2024 - 50andRising - All rights Reserved