Throughout the month of April, Cantina de Ventozelo will celebrate the waters that bathe the farm that serves as its home, with a menu that has been given the name 'O Rio Douro'. By the hand of chef José Guedes, it will be possible to taste less common delicacies, but of great relevance in the Alto Douro region, such as shad, trout or even riverside plants.

The menu comes in the wake of the monthly initiative to celebrate regional and seasonal products, launched in March by Cantina, with the butchering of the pig. "We chose the Douro River as the theme for April in Ventozelo, because when we think about the gastronomic offer of this region, we do not always identify river products with great prominence, besides lamprey", explains in a statement chef José Guedes, who recently took over the leadership of the kitchen of the restaurant of Ventozelo Hotel & Quinta.

Chef José Guedes© João Bernardino

"Aiming to highlight excellent ingredients that are less remembered, we will have, for example, shad, which we will cook in escabeche, as is traditionally done. Trout from the Boticas area, a superior quality product, which we will serve with a herb base and a creamy pepper rice. And we will also present some riverside plants that appear in the lower areas of Quinta de Ventozelo, a few meters from the river, of which we highlight green asparagus and wild fennel", he adds.

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This regular initiative to praise regional and seasonal products will last throughout the current year and may materialize both in special menus and in extra activities, such as thematic tastings or live demonstrations of techniques and products, which can range from beefsteak tomatoes to the grape harvest, through hunting or picking olives, among others. In April, the protagonist is the Douro River and the promise of chef José Guedes is simple: "We invite everyone who visits us to discover, at the table, that the river that identifies us as a region has multiple virtues".

Available from Monday to Friday, at lunchtime, the menu consists of couvert, two snacks, main course and dessert. It costs 45 euros per person, with DOC Douro wine pairing.

© Cantina de Ventozelo

Open to guests and the general public, the Cantina do Ventozelo restaurant, which occupies the exact spot where the farm workers' meals used to be served, thus maintains, now with the mastery of chef José Guedes, its role of giving life to local gastronomy and to traditional Douro recipes.

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