The Food Network Comes to Life
The International Design Hotel in Lisbon, with Castelo de São Jorge in the distance. The hotel restaurant in on the second floor, beneath the lavender coloured facade.
You know that insatiable craving you get when watching the food network? Your mouth waters as you watch the chef whip up some delight with ease. They plate their creation with panache as the clock timer runs down to zero, and present to the audience a finished, delicious looking piece of art. You wish more than anything, that this could somehow magically appear in front of you. This is a story about how, one night in Lisbon, this wish came true!
I had just spent the past 10 days in Portugal on my honeymoon. I had enjoyed fresh seafood from the ocean, a vegetarian buffet that blew my mind, creamy custard tarts, and many daily espresso breaks. It was our final night in Lisbon, and my new husband and I had picked up a pizza and we were chilling out in our hotel room. We had settled in early, knowing that we had to be up before dawn for our flight to Paris in the morning. We turned on the TV to wind down, and cozied up watching the Food Network. After an hour of watching the mouth watering programming, our pizza was a distant memory. Did we eat that pizza today? I could have sworn it was on our first night here. Our hunger returned, and we decided to wander down a floor to the hotel’s restaurant and see if it was still open.
As we neared the entrance, we heard loud, boisterous guitar music coming from inside. We peeked in to see live musicians playing and colourfully costumed dancers weaving around the tables of a packed room. The host informed us that it was a Battle of the Chefs! Mexico vs. Portugal. It was a 5 course meal (one of which was a signature cocktail, my fave). They said they had one extra table for us, and it had just started!
That evening turned into one of our most memorable dining experiences together. It really felt like we had walked onto our VERY OWN Food Network episode! We became fully immersed in a celebration of the two cultures. How lucky were we to spontaneously stumble into this? Thank you universe, I owe you one!
It seems to be, that some of the best experiences aren’t planned or scheduled. I need to remind myself to allow for the unexpected to happen (when travelling, but also in life). I now know to let my tastebuds take a break from talking, and let them do the walking.
Evidence that we did, in fact, consume pizza that night.