Following up on my JT column on Cristiano's last Friday, here are a few more pics — mine this time, so they're fuzzier and grainier, but they give an idea of what it looks like at table in this great little place...
Chef Koji Sato has really done his homework. He's got a remarkably wide repertoire of regional Portuguese recipes, but keeps the cuisine accessible by serving plenty of dishes in small portions that can be easily shared. Such as these tasty little bacalhau croquettes, which come in three flavours — black with squid ink, spicy red chili or plain (fish and potato).
Sato is big on leaf corander as a garnish and even as a stand-alone salad. Here it is as the main accompaniment to his great charcoal-grilled sardines. He also uses plenty of beans — you can see the excellent mixed bean "salad" at the back in the pic below.
And this is his feijoada a transmontana: white haricot beans, spare ribs, potato and onions and a single massive sausage — home-made and aged in the little curing chamber Sato has built in the corner of his kitchen — simmered down with cuts of tripe to give even deeper, richer levels of umami.
He even bakes his own bread — three kinds, including a very creditable version of pao de milho, the rustic cornbread favoured in the north of Portugal.
Cristiano's is as much a wine bar as a restaurant and manager Naoki Hiroi oversees an excellent and extensive cellar, with lots of options in the under-¥5,000 bracket. His wine list runs from the simple and quaffable to some pretty fine bottles from the Dao and Douro wine regions. We've drunk at both ends of the spectrum, from the refreshing vinho verde and easy-drinking Luis Pato — a great recommendation from Hiroi-san — to this fine Douro red in the ¥6,000 range, which drank just as nicely as many a Ribero del Duero.
Bottom line though, whether you're there for the food or the wine, Cristiano's is just a very comfortable, good-looking place to hang out. From the gorgeous wall painting of the Portuguese cockerel by the door...
...to the whitewashed walls adorned (but not cluttered) with pics (Amalia Rodriguez, fado instruments), ceramic tiles, more cockerels — and more murals...
...to the tiles along the counter, with their mosaic of colours arranged in apparently (but actually not) random sequences.
Here's a link to Cristiano's web site...
And here's a map link...
