RIB Beef & Wine is a beautiful steakhouse located in the heart of Ribeira Square in Porto, Portugal. It’s actually located right inside Pestana Vintage Porto, the lovely hotel we coincidentally happened to be staying at. When Joana, the restaurant manager of RIB Beef & Wine, made this connection, she actually sent a very thoughtful note to our room, making us feel very welcome. She even gifted us with a steak knife that had RIB Beef & Wine engraved in it! As I mentioned in my last blog post (click here) about Porto, staying at Pestana Vintage Porto was really special because we felt the hotel staff genuinely cared about their guests.
RIB Beef & Wine is a very modern, stylish restaurant with lots of blue and gold accents. The bright palm tree wall paper (featured image) will catch your eye immediately! The restaurant is fairly large, separated into two sections: the main restaurant and the bar. There is also a lovely patio where you can enjoy the beautiful views of the Douro River.
When Joana invited us for a beef and wine pairing at RIB Beef & Wine, I was so excited! Steak is my absolute favorite dish, so I was really pleased to have a meal here.
As soon as we were seated, the server came out with a bottle of Flor de Sao José, a white wine which is really dry and crisp. He also brought out a traditional Portuguese bread called Madden. It’s a soft fluffy bread that you must eat with olive oil from Northern Portugal. It also came with truffle oil and sesame seed butter, but trust me – the olive oil is the way to go. I have to say, the Portuguese take their bread very seriously. I think every restaurant in Portugal served fresh bread straight out of the oven. I wish that was the case here in the States!
Shortly after, a few light appetizers were brought out:
Cistina: It’s a small platter of cold cut meat, which honestly reminded me of prosciutto. This cut is from a cow instead of a pig. I personally loved it because it is more salty in flavor.
Carpaccio: This appetizer is also served on a platter. The only difference is they added some green leaves, shaved cheese, and light drops of mayo on top. When I took my first bite, the meat melted in my mouth. It reminded me of a much better quality roast beef.
Sliced beef with Salsa: It was definitely my favorite appetizer. Also, the sauce on this was phenomenal. It’s made of vinegar, olive oil, peppers, greens, tomatoes, onions. For my South Indian friends, it reminded me of Rasam, an Indian dish that is a heavy tomato and tamarind based soup. Strange comparison, I know.
All of these appetizers paired very nicely with the Flor de Sao José.
At the start of our main course, our server brought out a bottle of Pistola Corazon, a delicious, smooth red wine.
Stew of mushrooms: I am not going to lie. Akshay and I were a bit apprehensive when we saw this interesting combination of mushrooms, mashed potatoes, truffle, and egg. Those four ingredients are rarely combined in the States. The flavors surprisingly mix really well together! We did notice that mushrooms is a pretty popular vegetable in Portugal and a lot of restaurants get creative with it!
300 g sirloin: Our absolute favorite – cooked to perfection! This piece of meat was brought out on a hot, sizzling platter with salt, pepper, and two types of sauces to sprinkle over. I personally stuck with the salt and pepper, but Akshay ventured out and dipped his in the sauces. We noticed that this cut was cooked very well with a nice pink center. Joana later told us that they aged this meat for 60 days! I like crispier crusts, so I really enjoyed hearing the charcoal crunch as I would bite into it. It was still tender and juicy on the inside. Definitely a must order! (Akshay’s note: great cut of meat, and the aging actually tasted really good.) The steak was also served with some sweet potatoes and stirred vegetables.
And last, even though we were so stuffed (a very common theme you will notice as you read through most of my food reviews), everyone insisted we have a small bite of dessert. They ended up serving us a meringue pie paired with a glass of port wine. The meringue pie is a lemon custard topped with sweet, thinly sliced biscuits and a lemon ice cream. Akshay and I particularly enjoyed the marshmallow drops scattered across the pie. This is very lemony, so if you enjoy tangy flavors, then you should definitely order!
We actually returned a couple of nights later for a cocktail. Joana had mentioned that RIB Beef & Wine had recently released a new cocktail menu where each of the drinks are dedicated to one country around the world. They ended up making the “City of Love” (from Paris) and “Bossa Nova” (from Brazil). I obviously drank the City of Love since I like hibiscus and flowers! Akshay’s drink reminded me of a better version of lemonade. We were just blown away with the sheer creativity of these drinks. You could tell a lot of thought went into the ingredients, presentation, and concept. I also have to highlight that they have a Mexico themed drink which has actual guacamole in it!
All in all, I was really sad to leave our hotel and the wonderful people we met. I’m pleased to say that I made a new friend during this experience! Joana was truly an amazing host, and I am so happy we got to see her passion for RIB Beef & Wine.
