Experiencing the many unique flavours of BMW in Portugal
19 Oct 2017|6,764 views
I'll be the first to admit that fine dining is sometimes a little lost on me. Yes, foie gras and wagyu beef taste fantastic, but I'm not sure I have a well-developed enough palate to appreciate the complexity of flavours that fine dining offers. Personally, I'm quite happy with my $3.50 char kway teow at the kopitiam across the road.
Now I find myself in a slightly odd, yet interesting position of being in Portugal on what amounts to a food tour, driving a relatively eclectic selection of BMW models across different locations and trying the different foods on offer.
Familiar yet different
That's one way you can describe the cars I am driving. These cars are of familiar series (specifically the 4 and 5 Series range), but are of slightly unfamiliar variants. There is a 420d Cabriolet, a 425d Coupe, a 530e iPerformance, and a 520d Touring.
Each offers a different and distinct experience, and each has its own character and distinct personality (for in-depth Reviews, stay tuned for our first drive stories). And notably, these models are quite different from what you could get in Singapore (the 530e is the only one available in Singapore).
Can the same be said about Portuguese food? Well, sort of. The key ingredients are recognisable enough - pork, beef, fish, prawns. However, the flavour profiles are definitely something different. Portuguese food seems to take flavours to slightly further extremes. Eaten in isolation, many components from a lot of the dishes we had will be either too sweet, too salty or too sour. However, it's eating all of them together that the flavours come together to give a powerful and bold impression.
Over four days in Portugal, we had a wide-ranging selection of food to savour, ranging from traditionally prepared local delights, seafood fresh from the Mediterranean Sea, and even Michelin star quality food.
The most traditional meal we had was at Sao Lourenco do Barrocal, which embraced organic farming methods and the concept of food straight from the farm to the table. It's telling that I even had to stop briefly on the dirt road into the resort to wait as some cows crossed the road.
As such, everything we had that night, ranging from the meats to the vegetables, were all locally farmed on the very compound. The food are of the heart and earthy variety, in contrast to some of the lighter seafood we had earlier in the day.
And if I had to draw a comparison to one of the cars, it would be the 520d Touring. Yes, it is a relatively new car, but at least in the European context, it was by far the most traditional car we had - it was a diesel and an estate, two things that are of abundance on Portuguese roads. There's something remarkably comforting about being in a diesel-powered estate in Europe - unlike in Singapore where you'd feel starkly out of place, in Europe you feel right at home.
And it's not like it's a bad car either. Quite the contrary, it's a fantastic long-distance cruiser that's equally adept around 50km/h hairpins as it is doing 170km/h on the highway.
The pick of the bunch
Considering we did dine at a one Michelin star restaurant, it would seem an obvious choice for 'favourite meal'. L'And Vineyards was an interesting place, a modern and contemporary piece of architecture set against a distinctly rural backdrop. And when it comes to the food, L'And Restaurant's award-winning chef Miguel Laffan takes traditional Portugese cuisine and transforms them into modern Mediterranean-inspired dishes. Similar to a lot of the other restaurants we went to, focus is placed on using regional ingredients and embracing local flavours.
The ingredients in these Michelin star dishes weren't out of this world. There was octopus, pork and proteins we also had at many of the other restaurants. However, what made it exciting was the way other flavours were infused into the dishes, like the use of green curry.
What really captured my heart (and my stomach) was the way chef Laffan took relatively modest ingredients and elevated them to another level. I also realised that it's more than just the food - it's also about the pristine presentation and unique ambiance of the location that add to the overall ambiance.
So how is this related to the cars we drove? Well, my pick of the four Bimmers on the trip has got to be the 530e iPerformance. It's tempting to pick the Cabriolet, just because it seems like the car that's most in keeping with the Mediterranean spirit. Or perhaps even the Coupe because I reckon it's the best-looking of the lot. But no, my pick is the unconventional but intriguing new Plug-in Hybrid Vehicle (PHEV) offering from BMW.
The 530e shares a similar spirit to Miguel Laffan's food, by taking a traditional formula (the 5 Series) and infusing it with modern methods and technologies to elevate it to something recognisable yet different.
The 530e offers a surprisingly simple driving experience if you don't think too much about it. It's effortlessly easy to drive, superbly comfortable and easy to live with - all the sort of qualities you would associate with a more traditional 5 series. However, peer a little deeper under the surface and there are all manners of intrigue to it. With the electric motor, you have the ability to drive in full electric mode, which turns the 530e into something that's pristinely quiet and serene. There's also a seamlessness to the way the car marries both the petrol and electric motors to provide you that optimum balance between acceleration and efficiency. And the car feels like the future manifesting now - a future where combustion engines arguably have to take a back seat.
Also, the 530e isn't just a case of modernity for modernity's sake, either. No, it's a perfectly composed package that feels thoroughly well-conceptualised and well-executed. It's a car that accomplishes so much whilst giving away so little.
Conclusion
It's easy to stay in your comfort zone and just do what you are familiar with. Hell, I'd argue most people do that and nothing much else. It's much harder to embrace different things and try new experiences.
What this trip has shown me, through both the foods I have tasted and the cars I have driven, is that we shouldn't be afraid or wary of experimentation with familiar things. With the recently launched BMW PHEV iPerfomance range, the brand takes familiar and traditional models and uses modern technologies to spice it up and offer a different experience.
I wasn't quite sure at the start of the trip what to expect, but Portugal, with its exciting food, friendly people and ever-changing roads, revealed itself to be a place full of character. And the cars reflected that too, four BMWs that carried us from place to place in comfort, luxury and joy.
I'll be the first to admit that fine dining is sometimes a little lost on me. Yes, foie gras and wagyu beef taste fantastic, but I'm not sure I have a well-developed enough palate to appreciate the complexity of flavours that fine dining offers. Personally, I'm quite happy with my $3.50 char kway teow at the kopitiam across the road.
Now I find myself in a slightly odd, yet interesting position of being in Portugal on what amounts to a food tour, driving a relatively eclectic selection of BMW models across different locations and trying the different foods on offer.
Familiar yet different
That's one way you can describe the cars I am driving. These cars are of familiar series (specifically the 4 and 5 Series range), but are of slightly unfamiliar variants. There is a 420d Cabriolet, a 425d Coupe, a 530e iPerformance, and a 520d Touring.
Each offers a different and distinct experience, and each has its own character and distinct personality (for in-depth Reviews, stay tuned for our first drive stories). And notably, these models are quite different from what you could get in Singapore (the 530e is the only one available in Singapore).
Can the same be said about Portuguese food? Well, sort of. The key ingredients are recognisable enough - pork, beef, fish, prawns. However, the flavour profiles are definitely something different. Portuguese food seems to take flavours to slightly further extremes. Eaten in isolation, many components from a lot of the dishes we had will be either too sweet, too salty or too sour. However, it's eating all of them together that the flavours come together to give a powerful and bold impression.
Over four days in Portugal, we had a wide-ranging selection of food to savour, ranging from traditionally prepared local delights, seafood fresh from the Mediterranean Sea, and even Michelin star quality food.
The most traditional meal we had was at Sao Lourenco do Barrocal, which embraced organic farming methods and the concept of food straight from the farm to the table. It's telling that I even had to stop briefly on the dirt road into the resort to wait as some cows crossed the road.
As such, everything we had that night, ranging from the meats to the vegetables, were all locally farmed on the very compound. The food are of the heart and earthy variety, in contrast to some of the lighter seafood we had earlier in the day.
And if I had to draw a comparison to one of the cars, it would be the 520d Touring. Yes, it is a relatively new car, but at least in the European context, it was by far the most traditional car we had - it was a diesel and an estate, two things that are of abundance on Portuguese roads. There's something remarkably comforting about being in a diesel-powered estate in Europe - unlike in Singapore where you'd feel starkly out of place, in Europe you feel right at home.
And it's not like it's a bad car either. Quite the contrary, it's a fantastic long-distance cruiser that's equally adept around 50km/h hairpins as it is doing 170km/h on the highway.
The pick of the bunch
Considering we did dine at a one Michelin star restaurant, it would seem an obvious choice for 'favourite meal'. L'And Vineyards was an interesting place, a modern and contemporary piece of architecture set against a distinctly rural backdrop. And when it comes to the food, L'And Restaurant's award-winning chef Miguel Laffan takes traditional Portugese cuisine and transforms them into modern Mediterranean-inspired dishes. Similar to a lot of the other restaurants we went to, focus is placed on using regional ingredients and embracing local flavours.
The ingredients in these Michelin star dishes weren't out of this world. There was octopus, pork and proteins we also had at many of the other restaurants. However, what made it exciting was the way other flavours were infused into the dishes, like the use of green curry.
What really captured my heart (and my stomach) was the way chef Laffan took relatively modest ingredients and elevated them to another level. I also realised that it's more than just the food - it's also about the pristine presentation and unique ambiance of the location that add to the overall ambiance.
So how is this related to the cars we drove? Well, my pick of the four Bimmers on the trip has got to be the 530e iPerformance. It's tempting to pick the Cabriolet, just because it seems like the car that's most in keeping with the Mediterranean spirit. Or perhaps even the Coupe because I reckon it's the best-looking of the lot. But no, my pick is the unconventional but intriguing new Plug-in Hybrid Vehicle (PHEV) offering from BMW.
The 530e shares a similar spirit to Miguel Laffan's food, by taking a traditional formula (the 5 Series) and infusing it with modern methods and technologies to elevate it to something recognisable yet different.
The 530e offers a surprisingly simple driving experience if you don't think too much about it. It's effortlessly easy to drive, superbly comfortable and easy to live with - all the sort of qualities you would associate with a more traditional 5 series. However, peer a little deeper under the surface and there are all manners of intrigue to it. With the electric motor, you have the ability to drive in full electric mode, which turns the 530e into something that's pristinely quiet and serene. There's also a seamlessness to the way the car marries both the petrol and electric motors to provide you that optimum balance between acceleration and efficiency. And the car feels like the future manifesting now - a future where combustion engines arguably have to take a back seat.
Also, the 530e isn't just a case of modernity for modernity's sake, either. No, it's a perfectly composed package that feels thoroughly well-conceptualised and well-executed. It's a car that accomplishes so much whilst giving away so little.
Conclusion
It's easy to stay in your comfort zone and just do what you are familiar with. Hell, I'd argue most people do that and nothing much else. It's much harder to embrace different things and try new experiences.
What this trip has shown me, through both the foods I have tasted and the cars I have driven, is that we shouldn't be afraid or wary of experimentation with familiar things. With the recently launched BMW PHEV iPerfomance range, the brand takes familiar and traditional models and uses modern technologies to spice it up and offer a different experience.
I wasn't quite sure at the start of the trip what to expect, but Portugal, with its exciting food, friendly people and ever-changing roads, revealed itself to be a place full of character. And the cars reflected that too, four BMWs that carried us from place to place in comfort, luxury and joy.
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