Look Steak Cafe

Although down a star, Look remains in my top 5 Luz restaurants. After a week with the other half’s family, staying in a large villa 5 minutes away from the centre of the town, we headed to Look for a quite night together. We booked during the day, though it wasn’t necessary on this occasion, but totally recommended if you’re visiting during peak times i.e. weekends and summer.
The décor hasn’t changed dramatically, with a modern feel that can feel at odds with the surrounding natural beauty of Luz, but helps to make it stand out.
It has changed managerial hands since our last visit, but is still owned by the butcher of Baptista (the local supermarket) so the meat and food quality was on par with our last visit. Our waiter was super friendly, explaining that it was his first night, but there was really no need as he was spot on throughout the night.
We started with the grilled goat’s cheese and some seared scallops. The goat’s cheese was overdressed in my opinion, with strawberries and pineapple, taking away from the actual simple beauty of the dish. The scallops were tasty, on a simple bed of grated carrot and salad leaves, but there was too much oil on the plate to fully enjoy the dish.
Onto mains, it would just be rude not to go for the steak! I had the fillet and the other half went for the rib eye, both cooked medium rare, with the standard side of vegetables and ‘steakhouse potatoes’ i.e. chips. We were both going to have the peppercorn sauce but were recommended the mushroom along with the pepper and were more than happy to listen — really glad we did as the mushroom actually turned to be the best!
The chips were a bit of a disappointment in my opinion as they weren’t anything special, but the vegetables with garlic were very tasty, and the steak was simply perfect. It’s quality meat cooked perfectly, and everything we had remembered.
We were both stuffed at the end so no desserts, but a white port on the house — very much the style of Luz — was the perfect finisher offer.