Portuguese Function

As I was winding down my career as a chef to pursue other interests, I took a job in a beautiful little cafe in Glebe. The cafe is Yuga Cafe & Gallery, a cafe that combines art & food, featuring art work by different artists every month.

The owners are Ben Crisafulli & Setsuko Yanagisawa who both have a passion for good food. 

The cafe combines a floral service & has beautiful flowers in an area of the cafe that stimulates the senses visually & provides a wonderful perfume, check out Setsuko's designs here. It is also a floral design school run by Setsuko, teaching some of the skills she has gained over the years.

The cafe is opened 7 days a week & features a variety of Italian inspired food with a hint of Japanese flair.
The cafe set up the Sapore Club to feature the best of what the world has to offer. Since the club was set up, some of the functions that have been featured in recent years is Tuscan, Venice, Japanese, & Portuguese evening to just name a few.

Several years ago, I decided to do a Portuguese evening to feature the food of my childhood, to a packed group of 45 people (which is about the amount of people the club can fit into the cafe).
At that time, I'd wanted to show case the best of what Portuguese cuisine has to offer & to show that it's more than just burgers(which in Portugal doesn't exist) & custard tarts.
The food came out on large plates & were shared.

 

    Grilled Sardines with garlic, parsley & olive oil dressing

 Again I featured the best of what Portugal has to offer.Sardines are so Portuguese.
 These were grilled & served with a garlic & parsley dressing, & is very potent.


     
Spinach & Potato Soup ( Caldo Verde)

This Soup is made with potato & Spinach, served with slices of chorizo. 
This is a soup from the northern region, it's a hearty & robust type of soup. In Portugal it's made with kale,  in Australia you can use silver beet or swiss chard.

      Codfish Cakes ( Pasteis de Bacalhau)  
    

I've made these on this blog before, it's one of the most famous Portuguese starters

Dried codfish with potato, very simple & delicious.

 


 

       Squid Stew with potatoes, garlic, white wine (Caldeirada de Lulas)
 
This dish comes from the Algarve region, a dish that was made on a very regular basis in my  home
as a child. It's simple to make, the fresh ingredients are really the highlight

     Pipis with Chorizo & coriander

This dish has a wonderful flavour of garlic, chorizo & an  earthy flavour of coriander. The Portuguese   are masters at pairing meat  & seafood together.
   

      Chicken Pieces with Piri Piri


In this dish chicken thigh pieces where marinated over night in piri piri sauce & then pan fried

    

      Roast Capsicum & Tomato Salad
 
This salad is a regional dish from the Algarve region, usually served at BBQ's as the capsicum & tomato is put on the BBQ.  The skin is peeled on both & served with a olive oil, cider vinegar, garlic, Spanish onion & parsley dressing.

      Custard Tart & Chocolate Mousse
    

 This is the dish that many people know, custard tarts, these were bought at a pastry in Petersham, the  Portuguese suburb in Sydney.

The chocolate mousse was made by me.

      Table setting




Yuga Cafe & Gallery
172 St Johns Rd
Glebe NSW 2037
(02) 9692 8604