Culinary Weekend Retreat – Autumn 2023
Friday to Sunday, 10-12 November 2023 - Autumn Flavours Culinary Weekend
Join us on a culinary weekend full of autumn flavours. As the air is getting cooler, it’s time to get back into the kitchen and enjoy some warming and nourishing foods. Think chestnuts, pumpkin, parsnip, mushrooms, cabbage, quince, apples, persimmon, tangerine and pomegranate. Seasonal and local produce, freshly picked for the very best taste and texture. Tasty and beautiful food prepared with love and care.
The kind of food that you want to cook for your loved ones or like your mother used to cook for you. From honest simplicity to culinary delights.
A sensory experience of pure vegan cuisine in all its exuberant simplicity, served with a unique eye for detail. Plant-based gastronomy that takes you on a taste adventure.
Next to offering a fine dining experience, we will be happily sharing our knowledge on cooking with plants, demonstrating some techniques and giving you some recipes to take away.
Weekend Workshop Schedule:
Friday, 10 November
17.00 – Arrival at the quinta with a welcome non-alcoholic cocktail
18.30 – 20.00 – Four course fine dining dinner (served with organic wine)
Saturday, 11 November
08.00 – 08.30 – Tea, juice and light breakfast
08.30 – 09.30 – Optional yoga practice
10.30 – 12.00 – Brunch
14.30 – 18.00 – Cooking workshop
18.30 – 20.30 – Four course fine dining dinner (served with organic wine)
Sunday, 12 November
08.30 – 09.30 – Tea, juice and light breakfast
10.00 – 11.00 – Optional yoga class, mountain biking or hike (weather dependent)
11.30 – 13.00 – Brunch
15.00 – End of weekend
Price
€400 per person for private room with two nights accommodation, all meals including workshop and two fine dining dinners.
€300 per person for shared twin room with two nights accommodation, all meals including workshop and two fine dining dinners.
Options for Friday fine-dining dinner and/or for Saturday workshop and fine-dining dinner (without accommodation), on request.
The Team
Gino Marengo @jiinomarengo - Chef
Gino has worked in various high end restaurants in Amsterdam and was head chef of @mediametic-eten. Born in Suriname, growing up in the Netherlands and now living his life in Portugal gave him a wide and diverse taste palette. As a creative and lover of the experiment, he combines all these culinary influences into an authentic cooking style using fresh local produce and all possible preparation techniques. Transforming vegetables into a sensational spectacle, reinterpreting traditional dishes in a surprising way he aims to connect food cultures, flavours and memories. Gino loves to take you along this exciting plant forward path of his.
Marit Beemster @maritseetatelier - Chef
Marit is a plant-based chef and was the owner of a successful, fine-dining vegan restaurant in Amsterdam before she decided to follow her dream and move to Portugal to build a house together with her partner Gino and to start a new life among the sheep and olives.
Alison Melvin @alison_yoga - yoga & meditation teacher
Alison is an experienced Yoga Alliance E-500 RYT yoga and meditation teacher who has trained in the UK, the US and the Netherlands. After many years of living and teaching in the Netherlands, Alison moved with her partner to Portugal in 2020. Together they have lovingly restored an abandoned old farm and are working to create a more sustainable and kind way of living. Alison’s goal is to create a peaceful haven for people who want to take time off to rest and recharge in the beautiful natural surroundings of unspoilt Portugal.