Lisbon on a plate

Portuguese food is less-known across China than other European fare, but a transplanted chef is eager to change that in Beijing. Liu Zhihua tucks in for a tasting.

When Portuguese chef Paulo Quaresma came to the Chinese capital nearly five years ago, one of his first customers was rather disappointed. The Chinese guest ordered Portuguese chicken and was bewildered by what Quaresma served, insisting the dish was not what he expected.

Traditional Portuguese chicken, the chef says, is a whole chicken marinated and barbecued with white wine, olive oil, lemon and spices like chilies, bay leaves and garlic. What the customer expected, Quaresma founded out later, was flavors such as coconut, curry and other ingredients from Southeast Asia that Portuguese people do not use - perhaps because many Chinese people get their impression of Portuguese food from Macao, which was a Portuguese colony until it was returned to China in 1999.