Nez Bistrô - Recife - PE

Good!

Perfection of flavors.

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UPDATED REVIEW: Never say “never”…Our first visit to Nez Bistro didn’t go so well, but after 2 years, we decided to give the place another try and boy, what a difference! We absolutely loved the whole experience. The service was excellent, the food was perfect and the décor is romantic and charming. The owners are very friendly and the restaurant has some of the best background music. If I had to describe the dining experience, I’d say it was dark, sexy and seductive. I started with duck confit croquettes, which were delicious; my wife had the terrine de foie and the portion was so large that she had to take it to go (yes, she enjoyed it very much). For a main course we had gnocchi in ossobuco ragù (the gnocchi were tender and the ragù was excellent) and the duck breast, which was cooked and seasoned perfectly. Nez Bistro is a member of the Associação dos Restaurantes da Boa Lembrança (“the Association of Good Memories”). Whenever possible, I try to visit their members because they are almost always high-quality establishments. I will definitely be back here the next chance I get. ORIGINAL REVIEW: I was sooooo ready to like this place—but it wasn’t meant to be. This restaurant has been open here for more than 10 years & everybody seems to like it. This wasn’t my experience. First, the restaurant is WAY too dark—so dark in fact, that the waiters walk around with flash lights for the customers who can’t read the menu. Next, I waited 30 minutes before I could place a drink order. Not acceptable. I asked for the wine menu & I was given the kid’s version (wines by the glass); I had to wait about 10 minutes before I could wrestle a waiter to give me a wine menu by the bottle. When it did show up at my table, it turned out to be the most confusing wine menu I’ve ever encountered. I know wines, but I don’t know what this wine menu was trying to accomplish, besides confusing the customers, but it didn’t work. The first 3 pages talked about terroir, food and grape varieties (like a wine course); then the wines were separated by what they paired with (rather than simply by white/red/region like 99.5% of restaurants). The menu had some other categorization of the wines by body & fruitiness which I still don’t understand (see the pictures). Now the food: on a sliding scale from disappointing to the worst I’ve ever had, they covered the gamut. Our appetizer was interesting—deep-fried balls of duck confit, which were delicious, but for some reason were served in a box of rock salt & in a paper bag (like English fish & chips). My main course was the absolute biggest disappointment. “Nhoque de Brunelas” is a gnocchi dish (Brazilians spell gnocchi as “nhoque”) with pesto AND cream sauce and shrimps. The shrimps were large and cooked perfectly, but SO salty as to be inedible; the pesto was completely without flavor as were the gnocchi and the cream sauce (which was floury and gritty). This was the first time I’ve ever left a plate with shrimp and gnocchi uneaten. This was probably the worst gnocchi dish I’ve ever had. I have to say that even though this restaurant seems to be popular, I can’t say why; I can say that I’d never eat here again, even for free. I also couldn’t recommend this restaurant for any reason.

Nice Place, good food but expensive.