A Bosnian dining experience in a Portuguese restaurant: Restaurant 100 Maneiras (21. June 2019)
The 100 Maneiras has just opened about three months ago and is a bit hidden. If you want to dine at 100 Maneiras, I highly recommend you to book a table in advance and to make sure you maybe book another but the last seating (which is at 9:30pm) as the dinner takes about three hours so you won’t be out before midnight. Once you’ve arrived and you are seated (which happens quite quickly), the “tasting menu” (EUR 110.00) starts – or at least, it is supposed to. When we were seated, it took them a good 15 minutes to get started. I guess it was a time when everybody else was leaving so the staff was quite busy but somehow I consider more than 10 minutes before getting any water a bit too long.
However, once the menu actually started, it was an interesting journey. There is a “story” behind it which starts with a “cover” called “Welcome to Bosnia: “flower” bread, ajvar, kajmak, pasteta, stelja and sea “butter””. Now, you might wonder why you get a Bosnian dish as a starter – quite simply because the head chef is from Bosnia (although for already more than 20 years he calls Portugal his home). The bread was delicious and some of the things were too. The “sea butter” which was somehow milk tasting like shellfish wasn’t entirely to my liking.
With a few “forewords”, the dinner continues – “feel the beet: beet with coriander”, “barnacles with lemon” and “talking head: scarlet prawn tartare, dehydrated head, spices and lime”. I liked the beet and the prawn tartare. The barnacles on the other hand were so heavily coated in a cheese of an intensity that it was almost too much.
Next in line were the “crunchy mushrooms with arrow shrimp” plus the “Sarajevo cigar: potato foam, smoked tea bread and čvarci “tobacco””. The cigar was actually quite interesting and so were the mushrooms.
After the round of amuse bouches, the actual highlight of the dinner – at least for me – happened. I still consider it a modern reinterpretation of a “caesar salad” but it was “mixed salad: anchovies, black truffle and Parmesan”. What I liked a lot was the sweet element to the dish through the application of the ‘red coating’.
The first real course was “asparagus, lard and basil” which was rather basic in taste but served in an interesting way and you were asked to sip out the liquid of the dish once you had eaten the asparagus.
The “party mackerel, tomatoes and peppers” was somehow nothing spectacular.
But the idea that you have to rub your hand in a little herb tree to add to the dish as an experience is something I consider quite lovely.
The “tubers and almond milk” were fine but te white fish is – as it is so often the case – relatively boring in terms of flavor.
Now, when I saw the “red mullet …”
and the pot, I was wondering why you would get tea with fish. And then I was wondering why there was a fish tail tied to the tea pot. And then, I was even more surprised when I learned, that the content of the teap pot was basically “smoked ham tea”. Sounds funny …
… looks funny …
… but tastes quite delicious. The ham tea was incredibly intense and aromatic and just something you can truly enjoy. It generally went well with the fish but the combination itself didn’t do much to my taste buds to be honest – it was really just the ham tea which provided the necessary happiness.
The next dish belonged to the ones where you sometimes wonder how people come up with these ideas. The dish was “cod tongue, clams foam and macadamia”. Now, if you just ate the cod tongue alone it was of a rather interesting texture – not to say not so tasty. However, in combination with the crunchiness of the macadamia nuts, it was actually quite delicious.
My second favorite dish this evening was the main course – the “the last supper: cow head, horseradish, marrow and somun bread”. It felt like Mexican tortillas with meat but it was obviously not. The ‘tortillas’ were greasy and the filling was also rather different. However, the combination of the incredibly smooth cow head meat with horseradish, bone marrow and roasted onions made for a truly delicious dish!
I have tried foie gras a large number of times and I have never had it for dessert. Well, there is always a first and that was today. The “foie pour toi: foie gras, Dr. Bayard mint, “Mais Vale Tarde do Que Nunca” late harvest jelly, yogurt and ras el hanout” was basically a layer of foie gras covered with four different types of flavors on top and the idea was to break them in pieces and eat them with the foie gras. Interesting, yes. A dessert – not sure …
The final round was the “Eden Garden: herbs ice cream, herbs and flowers”. The ice cream was as a matter of fact tasting very much like herbs – not necessarily the finale I would have wished for.
Now, the “where there’s smoke, there’s fire: flaxseed, burned hay and almond milk” was a better ending – personally speaking as the combination of the ‘farm-like flavors’ with the almond milk made for a good combination.
The second last serving was a globe …
… which contained “rock, paper, scissors: fermented black garlic, white chocolate and passion fruit” when you opened it. Interestingly enough, they would not let us know what the dish was before we had tried it (and we had to guess what it was). It strongly tasted like mushrooms but turned out to be fermented black garlic. Now, while I consider the idea of creating something interesting and unique lovely, I must say that fermented black garlic for dessert which also tastes like mushrooms, is just not really a dessert to me.
The last course, the “friandises” were served in a lovely way – on a little tray held by a metal tree sculpture. The friandises weren’t overly delicious but a nice ending to the experience.
The “Bold Wine Pairing” (95.00 EUR) consisting of “Quinta do Sibio Samarrinho, 2017, Douro”, “Quinta do Regueiro Primitivo, 2016, Vinhos Verde”, “Conciso, 2015, Dão”, “VN, 2018, Granada”, “Principal Tête de Cuvée, 2010, Bairrada”, “Encurralado, 2015, Açores”, “Quinta de Pancas Cabernet Sauvignon, 1997, Lisboa”, “Mais Vale Tarde que Nunca, 2013, Douro”, “Ine Mankai, Kyoto”, and “Rakija, Sarajevo” was a bit heavy on the white wine side but fit well with the courses.
What I liked a lot about the 100 Maneiras was their concept as you would basically be seated at one long table which you share with people you don’t know. While I loved the idea, the problem was a bit that it wasn’t very interactive – so you were just seated at the same table but the interaction was basically non-existent. Once they managed to get the menu started, the service was also quite lovely – in terms of attention, speed, and friendliness.
So, all in all, the 100 Maneiras is definitely worth trying – it won’t be the most amazing experience you’ve ever had (at least not so far) but it offers a couple of interesting flavor combinations and is definitely lovely in terms of atmosphere and service.
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Contact Details:
Restaurant 100 Maneiras
Rua do Teixeira 39
Bairro Alto
1200-459 Lisboa (PT)
Tel.: +351 910 918 181
E-Mail: info@restaurante100maneiras.com
Homepage: http://www.100maneiras.com
About the Author: Sven
I started the blog in October 2009, while living in Milan which I definitely consider to be one of the food capitals of the world. I was in touch with food since my early childhood (as my father is a former chef). Whenever I can, I travel the world to discover new places, to meet people but mostly to try local dishes and to find hidden gems! If you know a place worth going, please drop a line to: info@thediningexperience.org.
Currently, I am a member of the following food-related associations: Chevalier @Chaîne des Rôtisseurs Zurich-Ville; Membre Gourmet Dégustateur @Ordre Mondial des Gourmets Dégustateurs [OMGD]; Gesellschafter @Goldener Fisch and Member @Slowfood Convivium Zurich City. 
