Paço dos Cunhas: An essential restaurant

In Santar, Nelas, Paço dos Cunhas is a delight to the eye and palate. Here, signature cuisine combines with a manor house that is over 400 years old. An essential part of any itinerary through central Portugal.   Even if it’s a little out of the way, we recommend you go to Santar, in the municipality of Nelas, to get to know Paço dos Cunhas, visit the place and eat there. We guarantee you won’t regret it.

We start by discovering the impressive facade of the Paço dos Cunhas, in the pillory square. The facade is different from the most common baroque manor houses in the area. Built in 1609, the manor house itself has disappeared. What remains are the façade and the monumental gate, the whole quinta and the farm buildings where the restaurant, the multifunctional space and the wine shop are located.

Even before we sit down at the table to feast our palate, we discover the quinta. In front of the large terrace with esplanade, there is a small romantic garden with artistically trimmed hedges. But it is after we pass it that we come across all the beauty of the farm. We have shaded areas, with fountains and 17th century tiles, and we have vineyards, as Paço is also a producer. In between, there are plantations of aromatic herbs and vegetables, which are used in the kitchen.

Henrique Ferreira, the Executive Chef of Global Wines and creator of the menu at Paço dos Cunhas, will tell us that “around 90% of the ingredients used in the kitchen are Portuguese and most are produced by us or in the region”.

Let us now enter the dining room. Lunchtime is just around the corner. We find a room where the walls are made of stone, with a robust and, of course, old look. The presentation of the room is a true presentation of what awaits us: we are in a pleasant and refined space, but without being pedantic. It has only one objective: to make the diner’s experience the best possible. And the staff, who run the room in a very professional and friendly way, also contribute to this.

I said we were already at lunchtime, because during the week, only lunches are served at Paço dos Cunhas. Only on Saturdays dinner is served, and on Mondays it’s closed.

But as this is not the case, we sit down to a meal that is an experience in itself. We will accompany the starters, fish, meat and dessert with wines from Casa de Santar, also owned by the same company.

During the meal of pleasant conversation and all the time in the world to appreciate the flavours, we were served real treats to the eyes and palate.

We started with a starter of alheira (sausage with no pork), Greek sausage and egg yolk at 63 degrees, in a perfect combination of flavours and textures that put us on our guard as to the quality of the meal. And what came next didn’t let us down.

We started with a surprising sea bass fillet and two textures of cove flower and continued with the main course of the meal, nothing less than an interpretation of a typical dish of this area: veal à Lafões but which came to the table with the author’s touch, namely: veal loin à Lafões, aligot of Serra cheese, sautéed wild mushrooms, mustard sprouts and dehydrated beetroot.

To finish this excellent lunch, we were served a pudding Abade de Priscos and green apple, in which once again the textures and the marriage of flavours raised it to a higher level.

Paço dos Cunhas changes its menu several times throughout the year and bets on signature cuisine. “The challenge we were given was to create a signature cuisine because we already have a restaurant nearby, Quinta de Cabriz, where we cook traditional food from the Beira region”, says Chef Henrique Ferreira.

Paço dos Cunhas serves executive menus at lunchtime for 12 euros. This is not a restaurant to be recommended. It is a restaurant that we consider a must!