Elite Traveler Fall 2024

São Miguel Island has the only pineapples grown in Europe

Left Ilheu de Vila Franca do Campo, part of the Azores

Below Como em Casa invites amateur cooks into a professional hotel kitchen

elite traveler FALL2024 133

The Azores, in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, is an archipelago of nine islands

Like at home

The Azores, nine islands 870 miles west of Lisbon, is as far west as you can go in Europe. Most of it is a wild paradise with volcanoes to hike up, hydrangea covered hills to wander through and top-notch sur fi ng — the ‘Hawaii of Europe,’ some say. Andnow you can add a growing number of boutique hotels, some of which are sporting top chefs building an exciting dining scene — one that is making the most of the archipelago’s particularly fl avorful produce. Stallholders in the Mercado da Graça in Ponta Delgada, the Azorean capital on the main island of São Miguel, are trying to outdo each other with their displays of homegrown pineapples. And they have something to shout about: They are the only pineapples grown in Europe, introduced in the 19th century after a pressing need for a cash crop and not exactly easy to cultivate. We discover all of this with our guide, Carina Ramos, the morning before eating a delicious lunch prepared by locals. No, we aren’t piling into people’s homes — this is all part of a culinary event called Como em Casa (‘Like at Home’), which invites amateur cooks into a professional hotel kitchen. It’s an initiative dreamed up by forward-thinking Portuguese boutique hotel group, Octant, which places localism at the heart of operations and aims to highlight the knowledge and fl avors of each region in its restaurants. Boasting impressive sustainability and eco-friendly credentials, the eight-strong, design-led group, with properties from the Douro to the Algarve, launched Como em Casa last October, taking the event — and the legacy it leaves — to each of its hotels. Now it’s Octant Ponta

Delgada’s turn, with its smart new sea view suites and new food and wine shop. A goodie basket in our room greets us on arrival, and it’s laden with the best the island has to o ff er, from the sweet pastries queijadas de Vila Franca to addictive, salty pimenta da terra (red pepper paste), typically smothered over fresh cheese and served at the start of every meal here. But it’s Ramos, the hotel’s experience manager, who brings the stories to life as we move around the market, feeding us samples of local specialities and introducing us to the people who make it happen — from the hotel’s butcher to its fruit and vegetable supplier. And thanks should go to Eyes sparkle as they each run through their recipes in the hotel’s À Terra restaurant, encouraged by head chef Paulo Leite, who is clearly getting as much out of it as the amateur cooks

Como em Casa coordinator, Teresa Vivas, who, with a bit of clever sleuthing, discovered the amateur village cooks who wanted to share their recipes and stories. We meet IT worker Paulo, who shares his grandmother’s deeply fl avored chorizo, black pudding and cabbage broth, and his mother’s heady octopus stew, made piquant with local pepper pimenta da terra; and we meet home cook Vânia and try her bread-stu ff ed mackerel laced with sweet paprika and her light, airy margaridas pastries. Last out is Marilia and her melting beef stew from her home on Terceira Island, made aromatic with cinnamon and bay, and fi nishing with Faial Island speciality fofas , fennel fl eckedbuns fi lled with a lemony cream. Eyes sparkle as they each run through their recipes in the hotel’s À Terra restaurant, encouraged by head chef Paulo Leite, who is clearly getting as much out of it as the amateur cooks. Azores’ cuisine is Europe’s best-kept secret. The nutrient-rich volcanic soil gives a distinct terroir to the food produced here, from the highly prized beef (there are said to be more cattle than people in the Azores), to the dialed-up fl avors of the fruit and vegetables, but the terroir is most notable in the abundance of cow’s milk cheeses, which range from soft and creamy to hard and salty. One cheese in particular grabs our attention — São Jorge, named after the island where it is made; it’s a tangy, semi-hard raw cow’s milk cheese that silences the group as we nibble on it at the market’s best cheese shop, O Rei dos Queijos. We tried it again for lunch with an ambrosial Azorean forti fi ed wine plucked from the hotel’s list packed with local wines. Yes, the Azores produces wine, too — thrilling and age-worthy, and in need of further exploration. It’s a 55-minute fl ight to Pico Island, some 210 miles further west, where much of the Azores’ wines are made. Wine has been produced here since the 15th century — but like with the pineapples, it’s no easy ride. Yields are low and obstacles are many, from the strong Atlantic winds to birds sco ffi ng the grapes, but producers stick with it because the potential ishuge.

Photos Tim de Waardt/Shutterstock.com, Fiona Sims