Business
Striving for excellence at Espiche Frederico Fonseca – otherwise known as Fred - has been the restaurant manager at the Gecko Restaurant at Espiche Golf since it opened in 2014. The 39-year-old was born in Lagos but went on a gastronomic tour before returning to the Algarve. Here he tells us about his passion for food. Please tell us about your professional background. I left the Algarve at 23-years-old with some experience at local restaurants and bars and I started working in London at one of the Conran Restaurants in St. James called ‘Quaglino’s’. I moved from there to the Bank Restaurants Group Plc (where I stayed for the rest of my time in England). I worked at the Bank Aldwych and Zander Bar in Westminster and then moved to one of the group’s restaurants in Birmingham. I left England in 2006 and went to Brazil where I opened a restaurant and bar before moving back to Portugal in 2010. Why did you want to become a restaurant manager?
After many years working in all departments - kitchen, bar and front of house – I discovered that is what I liked the most. I enjoy being able to put together my own ideas and flavours to dishes and enjoy the positive feedback from clients. It’s just really rewarding for me and for my team. What atmosphere are you trying to create? We want to give our clients a fine dining experience but in a relaxed atmosphere. We offer Mediterranean and traditional regional food with my own twist and flavours. Just five minutes from Lagos, Gecko Restaurant is unlike any other place in the Western Algarve. We are set in Espiche Golf Clubhouse with amazing views of the golf course and Monchique hills. It’s something that we can’t find anywhere else. What do you like about being a restaurant manager? Food is my passion. Ever since I can remember I have always loved fish and seafood. Being a restaurant manager, I believe, is all the above and customer service. What’s really rewarding about our work is the feedback we get from our
clients, friends and colleagues, specially coming from other chefs. What do you like about working at Espiche? I think the most important thing is the location. Espiche is a unique place with a unique identity – it’s also a sustainable and ecological resort. The team at Espiche is also an important element. Without them none of this is possible. I enjoy the laid back golfer's feeling here. It can be hard to find a connection with every client that comes through the door if you’re in a beach resort or restaurant. In the golf industry I personally feel people are more relaxed. Maybe the golf helps as a therapy....I am not sure!! Can you tell us your top three favourites please. My favourite restaurant (that is not Espiche) is ‘A Tasca’ in Sagres, my favourite beach is Meia Praia and my favourite day out Monchique (Foia) passing through for lunch at the very nice Restaurant ‘Luar da Foia’.
New novel for Algarve resident The novel ‘Two Months in Summer’ by Eleanor Michael, long-time resident of the Algarve and known locally as Elly Clayman, blurs fiction around the historic and political events that prevailed during the summer of 1974 on the paradise island of Cyprus in the Eastern Mediterranean.
Now, 40 year later, it is a paradise for international tourists. In addition to its attractions of bygone years it now boasts modern roads and facilities, golf courses shops to appeal to everyone’s taste and luxury hotels and apartments - a perfect holiday destination.
During these two months, the population both Greek and Turkish Cypriots were subjected to a foiled assassination attempts on the President, an Athens-backed military coup and the invasion by mainland Turkish forces who eventually captured, and still retain, the whole of the north of the island.
But between these two periods, the island endured a catastrophic upheaval with tens of thousands of the population becoming displaced refugees in their own country.
Eleanor lived through and was an integral part of these events in her 10 years in Cyprus. The island of Cyprus was the perfect place for many expats who, one time or another, visited Cyprus while living and working for international companies on the oilfields in the Middle East during the 60s and 70s. With its friendly people, delicious food, wine and unlimited alcohol, its sandy beaches and snowy mountains and a cultural history going back thousands of years. It was the perfect paradise for rest and recreation.
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www.tomorrowalgarve.com
This catastrophe started one quiet Monday afternoon in June 1974. An accidental discovery of the headquarters of a terrorist group by Eleanor was the catalyst. The story ‘Two Months in Summer’ opens when Sally, a young English woman, discovers the HQ of the terrorist group, putting her life in danger as the political consequences lead to a military coup. Her husband is unlawfully imprisoned and the President escapes out of the country. The new leader is a known criminal and is hated by the Turkish Cypriot community for having massacred whole villages in the past.
TomorrowAlgarve
On the pretext of protecting the Turkish Cypriot community, the Turkish government sent a highly equipped invasion force to Cyprus. They rampaged across the north coast of the island displacing tens of thousands of Greek Cypriots living there and thwarting Sally time and again to get to her husband imprisoned in the north, leaving her in a state of fear and panic as she tries to reach him. Eleanor Michael was born during the war years in London to an Austrian mother and a Greek Cypriot father. She was educated and worked in England until 1967 when she moved to Cyprus and subsequently married a Greek Cypriot businessman. After her husband died Eleanor remarried and moved to the Algarve in Portugal where she has now lived for over 30 years. ‘Two Months in Summer’ is listed on Amazon as a Paperback at £7.99 and a Kindle eBook £2.99 on www.amazon.co.uk. To contact Eleanor please contact@eleanormichael.com www.eleanormichael.com Two-Months-in-Summer