Kiko Martins was born in Rio de Janeiro but in his blood runs the strength of transmontana race. However – and after a degree in marketing and management studies at the Cordon Bleu in Paris – he turned out adding to his genetic code culinary influences from around the world when he traveled for two years, for more than twenty countries, with his wife. This adventure materialized in a collection of chronics in Expresso newspaper and a book, Comer o Mundo. Since then, Kiko grew up in the Portuguese gastronomic panomara, participated in cooking shows such as Chef’s Academy and Cook Off. At the moment he has two restaurants in Lisbon, O Talho and A Cevicheria.

Faced with such history and proven track record, O Apartamento decided to invitechef Kiko to set off Out of the Box dinners, another new idea of this project. Twice a year, within the four walls of this bright apartment, a chef will be challenged to cook an intimate dinner, always with a surprising theme. For this first dinner, chef Kiko chose Surf & Turf, ie the combination between sea and land – fish or seafood with meat – as a common denominator to all the dishes. The plates and tables of O Apartamento strolled hand in hand pork bellies with scallops and even chicken skin with algae ice cream. A successful out of the box dinner. Thank you Kiko.

Three questions to chef Kiko Martins

Why did you chose Surf & Turf as this dinner’s theme?

The link between the sea and the land has always attracted me due to the dynamics it can offer a dish. I’ve always been an apologist of no barriers between meat dishes, fish dishes or vegetarian dishes in restaurants menus. I think it’s interesting to challenge this tight logic and Surf and Turf is a different way of thinking food. Fish and meat connect very well. In Portuguese cuisine, for example, we have carne de porco à alentejana (a traditional pork dish from Alentejo) combining meat with seafood. The choice of such dishes resulted from the desire to innovate and present a dynamic and creative dish in which i could present a Crispy Chicken Skin with Seaweed ice cream and mix a Thai dish with duck Magret, Foie Gras and a typical seafood sauce.

 What do you think about O Apartamento?

It’s a genius idea which corresponds to a trend that has grown in recent years. I knew “Viajante”, chef Nuno Mendes’ small kitchen in London, who shared some ideological lines with O Apartamento. I find very interesting the idea of inviting several chefs for a more intimate space and providing a different experience to the public.

 The best/worst/funniest/amazing/surreal story that ever happened to you as a cook?

I can tell you something that happened in a small restaurant i owned a few years ago. One day, i was going to serve pie with Shrimp Bobo and had a tray in hand with about 70% of the lunches i was supposed to serve that day. I dropped the tray on the floor before starting the service. I was alone and expecting 50 people for lunch 15 minutes later. It left me completely dumbfounded but the pressure stimulated creativity. I had rice, boiled greens, found brie pasta and sausage in the fridge and suddenly i came up with sausage rolls with filo pastry accompanied by rice, greens and a hint of tomato. This ridiculous and complicated situation generated a winning dish that turned out to be long in the menu: Puff Pastry Sausage with Greens rice.

Photos: © 2015 Arlindo Camacho