What a treat! After languishing over a multi- (and we mean multi!) course meal at Portugal’s The Yeatman Hotel, writer Richard Basch got to ask Executive Chef Ricardo Costa questions to his heart’s content. Providing interesting, behind-the-scenes insight, we learn what it takes to be a chef and what it’s like to find out you won a Michelin star – again.

Executive Chef Ricardo Costa. Photo courtesy The Yeatman.

I met Ricardo Costa in the best possible way. He fed me dinner. I was a guest in The Yeatman Hotel, the best five-star hotel in Porto, Portugal and Ricardo is the hotel’s executive chef. The first night I had a 16-course meal in the Yeatman dining room. I must say it was my only experience with that many courses. I was amazed, startled when I sat at the table and was told that there was to be such a fantastic meal. Then I discovered that he was the area’s only Michelin-two-star chef!

As courses are much smaller in Europe than here in America, I was able to rise after the meal quickly, unencumbered by this considerable feast. The courses were small enough that it took three hours to eat his presentations. So at the conclusion, I was just very pleased and impressed by Ricardo’s delicious offerings.

At the meal’s end, I began asking to meet our chef and interview him. I don’t know why, but I expected to meet a huge man with some extra weight. Quite contrarily, Ricardo emerged as a trim, handsome man. But enough of the introductory remarks, I want you to listen to him speak for himself — Richard Basch.

Meet Executive Chef Ricardo Costa of The Yeatman, and holder of two Michelin stars

Getting his start:

Q: Why did you decide to become a chef?
A: When I was a young boy, I worked in a restaurant and, to be honest, I never knew what I wanted to do in the future. It was always a complicated question for me: “What do you want to be when you grow up” as I never wanted to be a pilot or a fireman. The restaurant where I worked at the time suggested that I went to culinary school and that’s exactly what happened. I went to the Hotel and Tourism Faculty of Coimbra University.

Q: When did you decide that this is what you wanted to do?
A: When I began to study cooking and I undertook internships in various restaurants.

Q: What’s the difference between a “cook” and a “chef”?
A: Cook, cooks whilst a chef supervises, creates, invents, coordinates, and has to take the initiative to implement new ideas, besides requiring the know-how to run a team.

Q: Do you do the cooking at home?
A: No. Only on special occasions. Since I spend all week in Porto, when I go home to Aveiro at the weekend, I prefer to eat out with my family and not waste a lot of time in the kitchen.

Q: What do you say to your wife if dinner isn’t very good.
A: I try not to be rude so as not to offend (laughs), but I try to explain the best technique and how to perfect it for next time.

Q: What’s your favorite food?
A: I love Portuguese food but I also really like Japanese. It’s simple and light.

“Snacks” from The Yeatman. Photo courtesy The Yeatman.

Executive Chef Ricardo Costa in the kitchen:

Q: Do you have a particular style of cooking?
A: My favourite styles are Western, Asian, and Mediterranean – light and simple dishes.

Q: Do you have a specialty dish?
A: I do! It’s the Suckling Pig. A famous Portuguese dish, well known in the Bairrada region, it is my special version and one of my signature dishes at The Yeatman.

Q: What do you look for when you hire other chefs to assist you in the kitchen?
A: It is very important that they have a good character, being educated and that they can feel the importance of passing through our kitchen. It should be useful for us and for them.

Q: What is the hardest part of your job?
A: Coordinating and correctly managing everything. It’s a huge responsibility to be a chef. Particularly inside a hotel where, besides the gastronomic restaurant, which is under my responsibility, I also have all the rest of the “food” department (the second restaurant, breakfast, room service, events, etc.)

The beautiful interior of The Yeatman. Photo courtesy The Yeatman.

On multiple Michelin stars:

Q: Where were you when you won your first Michelin star?
A: I had just started work at Casa da Calçada, in Amarente. The phone rang and I was initially going to tell the kitchen assistant to answer and say that I wasn’t there! But it’s just as well I didn’t, as it was the journalist giving me the news, first-hand. As it was still unofficial, it was quite a stressful day.

Q: Where did you celebrate?
A: When the rest of the team knew, we celebrated with a few toasts in the kitchen.

Q: Does the restaurant where you won your first Michelin star still have one?
A: Yes. The Casa da Calçada is still the holder of a Michelin star. My departure was sufficiently planned and I was able to pass on the responsibility to their current chef, who has done a very good job.

Q: How did you come to The Yeatman?
A: It was in the very beginning, in 2010. Someone I knew recommended me and I left Casa da Calçada on good terms – I still have a good relationship with my ex-colleagues there. In 2011, we won our first star here at The Yeatman. And in the 2017 guide, we won our second.

Q: Do you know when the Michelin Guide inspectors are going to visit you for their evaluations?
A: No, we don’t. However, I know a few inspectors and in the Iberian Peninsula, they are usually the same ones, so I recognize them! In any event, they usually introduce themselves at the end of the meal.

Q: What did the second star mean to you?
A: It was basically a certificate for more responsibility and more effort. The more stars you have, the greater the challenge and that’s what we work towards on a daily basis. To create a unique and memorable experience for our guests.

Q: How many 2 Michelin star restaurants are there in Portugal?
A: Six – 2 in Algarve, 2 in Lisbon, 1 in Porto and 1 in Funchal. But only three of these have Portuguese chefs and I am one of them.

Ovos The Yeatman Bacalhau Coentros Presunto. Photo courtesy The Yeatman.

Sharing recipes:

Q: Would you give your recipes to other colleagues who are chefs?
A: It depends. If it’s something basic, I don’t mind sharing. But if it’s my suckling pig, then no! Secrecy is part of the job. Each dish has to be unique, a signature dish. I could only share small details.

Q: When you love a dish in a restaurant, do you ask the chef for the recipe or do you just keep the photograph and try to recreate it at home?
A: If they want to share it, I’ll listen! But no, as previously mentioned, it’s important that each dish remains authentic and unique.

Q: What are your culinary plans for the future? Is there a position that you would like to create or anywhere you’d like to be?
A: For the next few years, I aim to remain at The Yeatman. It’s one of the best restaurants in the country and there’s no other place right now which offers me these conditions – enabling me to create, innovate and evolve.

Hungry for more? Read about Chef Costa and six other chefs in Portugal in this article, Seven Stellar Chefs by Irvina Lew. Read another interview by Richard with Chef Alejandro Sanchez, and try the recipe he offered up for a chilled soup. Or, listen to this podcast with another chef who has worked his way around the world just to settle in Savannah.

Keep this interview handy for your travels to Portugal by pinning it on Pinterest!