We discovered Antiqvvm in Porto by chance, as we were exploring the gardens next to it before we got hungry at lunch time. It happened to be Labour Day in Porto, so a lot of places were closed, but we were lucky that Antiqvvm was open, and not busy at all. In fact, it was quite empty, but that might have also been because we were eating around 3pm, which is quite late in the day, as well as the holiday. The restaurant itself is beautiful, located right beside the Jardins Palacio de Cristal, and the outdoors seating area overlooks the Duoro River, although I don't think they serve food out there.

Antiqvvm has a Michelin star, so after taking a look at the menu, which was not expensive at all for a restaurant with a Michelin star, we decided to give it a try, and it was definitely a great last-minute decision! There was a tasting menu option, but unfortunately it was not available for us since we were eating so late in the day. They had two options for tasting menus, a smaller one with 7 courses for 95 euros, and a larger one with 9 coursesfor 125 euros, with wine pairings for an additional 50 or 70 euros, respectively. Main dishes were priced at around 30 euros, which seemed reasonable, especially since we were saving money by cooking all of our breakfasts and some of our dinners.

Before our mains arrived, we were served complimentary snacks, which was really lovely, and also super delicious! The menu of Antiqvvm changes regularly, and all of the menu items are given not-very-descriptive names, with a description of the food. Our snacks were Codfish Escabeche (codfish skin on top of a smoked pepper and coriander sauce), Peanut (made of Serna cheese and quince), Cornetto (served in a cone shape wrapping caviar, cheese and chives), Discoveries (shrimp in brik, curry, and chutney) and Truffle in the Forest (portuguese sausage and truffle oil).

After the nice complimentary snacks, our mains arrived. I split two dishes with my friend, and we had lamb and veal. The lamb was delicious, super tender, and went really well with the sides of the dish. The veal was also very nice and tender, but I think the lamb dish was my favourite.

Of course, dessert is always my favourite part of any meal. Before dessert came, we were brought these palate cleansers, which was a small shot glass almost, filled with yogurt, olive oil, and passion fruit foam. It was so delicious, the flavours went together so nicely and the olive oil was a great touch. I never thought such a combination would be so delicious! I had their citrus dessert, which is a dessert made of different textures of food but all citrus flavoured. There was ice cream, foam, ice, sweet orange, and some cracker. It wasn't super sweet which was nice, and really tasty! Another dessert that one of my friends had was a chocolate dessert, the red lip is actually chocolate as well, and it was also really tasty.

This was my first time at a Michelin star restaurant, and it was a really nice experience, especially with all the unexpected snacks that we were given. The food was really tasty and definitely not something I've had before, and not terribly expensive. I really hope I get to go to more Michelin star restaurants in the future (when I have more money)!