Volta do Mar: Salt Yard founder to open Portuguese restaurant serving Goan food

Globetrotting: Fried courgette flowers at Salt Yard, the restaurant group founded by Volta do Mar owner Simon Mullins
Ailis Brennan25 September 2019

The co-founder of the acclaimed Salt Yard dining group is to open a new Portuguese restaurant in Covent Garden – but it will serve food inspired by Goa, Mozambique, Macau and more.

Volta do Mar, a new project from husband and wife restaurateurs Simon Mullins and Portuguese-born Isabel Almeida Da Silva, is set to open at the beginning of November. The restaurant will look to showcase the diversity of Portuguese cuisine, serving both regional dishes and recipes formed through its trading history with disparate countries around the world.

Mullins founded Salt Yard in 2005, before expanding the group to encompass acclaimed restaurants Dehesa, Opera Tavern and Ember Yard. Almeida Da Silva previously held front of house roles at Marco Pierre White’s Mirabelle and The Delaunay.

The globally inspired menu will be overseen by chef George Tannock and will include piri piri marinades made with chillies from Angola and Mozambique, a Brazilian-style smoked ham feijoada, as well as Goan dishes including Iberico pork vindalho, and pão com chouriço, a dish made with smoked chorizo served in a naan.

“Over time, Goan and Portuguese cuisines have fused to create something uniquely distinct,” says Mullins. “Where Portuguese ingredients were missing, local Goan alternatives where substituted. Iberico Pork Vinha d'alho was traditionally a wine and garlic marinade which evolved into a delicious curry – and eventually the curry house Vindaloo!”

The cocktail list will be similarly international, with ingredients including sugar cane spirit Cap Grogue from Cape Verde and Angolan gin. The wine list will focus on Portuguese wines largely – including port and Madeira – but will also explore regions in Brazil.

“We will open diners’ hearts and minds to how delicious and varied Portuguese food can be – sadly that choice has been limited until now,” Almeida Da Silva told the Standard. “By bringing the history of a world cuisine alive, we look forward to sharing that with London where only traditional examples of Portuguese food have been available before.”

Volta do Mar will open in November at 13-35 Tavistock Street, WC2E 7PS. For more information, visit voltadomar.co.uk

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