Forbes Travel Notes – Reviews, features & travel notes

Each year Vila Joya hosts an International Gourmet Festival – next year’s event will run during November 2013, as well as a festival earlier in the year, part of the Portugal Dos Sabores.

Each year Vila Joya’s International Gourmet Festival attracts renowned award-winning and Michelin- starred chefs from across the world to cook each day.

Since the early 1990s, world famous Austrian chef, Dieter Koschina has been responsible for the kitchen, creating dishes that have led him, in the last few years, to be rewarded with two Michelin stars. Sophisticated French cuisine is prepared with local market fresh produce as well as exceptional fish and seafood from the Atlantic and Mediterranean

For the privileged few, there is the ultimate dining experience – the table in the kitchen, ‘where the magic happens’.

Each menu is married with fine Portuguese, French and other international wines from the hotel’s designer wine cellar. This room is a master piece in its own right, a seductive space of black slate, and cascading cooling water. This hidden gem of the hotel is perfect for private wine tastings too.