A Mesa do CAM, a farm to table success story via CulinaryBackstreets.com
GUEST BLOG / By Austin Bush--At Rua Marques de Fronteira 2, in Lisbon, Portugal, we didn’t expect to find one of Lisbon’s most radical kitchens behind a self-service counter and a line of people holding trays. But that’s exactly the trick A Mesa do CAM plays on visitors. It may look like a museum cafeteria, but upon closer inspection (and a few bites), it reveals itself as one of the most ambitious farm-to-table projects in the Portuguese capital.
The space, above, sits inside the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum’s renovated Centro de Arte Moderna (or CAM). At first glance, the setup seems familiar. A long counter with prepared foods, trays, a dish of the day with a Portuguese tilt, and customizable bowls.
Guests then carry their trays to the restaurant’s black, curiously asymmetrical tables, a hint that A Mesa do CAM is a different kind of museum eatery. Mesa means “table” in Portuguese, and these surfaces, designed by architect Kengo Kuma (who also oversaw the museum’s renovations), each have a different footprint. When slotted together in a specific configuration, they form a single oversized table used for events.
“Everything that comes from the farm is transported in electric cars,” Magalhães says. “And then, those same cars take back all of the organic stuff that’s generated here.” The compost then enriches the soil at the farm, and the cycle begins again. Even the ceramic dishes, made by Studio Neves, follow sustainable production methods. There are no paper cups, no single-use anything. Napkins are made of fabric and take-away containers just aren’t part of the equation.
In addition to the cafeteria, Magalhães has also created an a la carte menu, meaning the space can serve as a quick museum pit stop or a dining venue – or both at once. To match this flexibility, Magalhães developed dishes grounded in Portuguese gastronomy, with occasional forays into Spanish and Japanese cuisines. ”The public is super eclectic,” he said. “We have to please foreigners who aren’t very familiar with Portuguese food, but also locals. It’s a balance that’s hard to achieve.”
We sat down with Magalhães on a weekday afternoon, when he walked us through nearly the entire menu, which is available during lunch from Thursday to Monday, and at dinner from Thursday to Sunday (on Saturdays, the museum is open until 9PM). A common thread at A Mesa do CAM is vegetables.
Working closely with Craveiral Farmhouse and other small producers in Portugal, Magalhães has created a menu that positively pops with greens, oranges, reds, and other vegetal hues depending on the time of year. Garden Vegetables with Fermented Sauce is the dish that probably best expresses this: seasonal produce briefly grilled, then coated in a silky, deliciously savory sauce made from vegetable broth (using peels and off-cuts) and a sourdough starter
The Creamy Garden Vegetable Rice carries the same spirit, as does a simple but bold Caesar Salad. Even the meatier dishes hinge on greens: the carb element of Pork Belly with Vinhais-Style Couscous and Turnip Greens boasts a practically emerald hue, and the smoky Sirloin Steak shines thanks to what may be Lisbon’s most vibrant esparregado, the local take on creamed spinach.
Some dishes go beyond Portugal, such as the Russian Salad with Ajitama Egg and Anchovies, which tastes like something we might order at a bar in Madrid, while the Cod “Brás” Style with Olive Powder is one of the better versions we’ve had of this domestic staple in Lisbon.
But the dish that stopped us completely was a dessert: Gatnabour, a rice pudding from Armenia reimagined as a tribute to Calouste Gulbenkian, the museum’s namesake, who was ethnically Armenian. Cardamom and other spices rush forward first, followed by the zing of acidic fruit, the richness of milk, and a balanced sweetness from date and pomegranate molasses. The first bite felt electric and we left thinking it might just be one of the best desserts in Lisbon.
