Gusto by Heinz Beck

Gusto is the flagship dining room at the Conrad Algarve, the five-star hotel in Quinta do Lago. It carries a Michelin star (awarded 2017, held since) and is directly supervised by the Rome-based Heinz Beck. The three-star chef of La Pergola, and one of the very few chefs in the world whose off-site restaurants are routinely as disciplined as the flagship.

The room is modern-elegant. A glass-walled rectangle overlooking the hotel's terraced garden and pool, pale woods, bronzed fittings, perhaps forty seats. The terrace extends the capacity in warm months and is the preferred seating for a business dinner.

Executive chef Jorge Vicente runs the kitchen day-to-day to Beck's designs. A signature fagottelli La Pergola. Pasta parcels filled with carbonara cream. Makes the menu at every Heinz Beck property and remains the most-ordered course. The Atlantic sea bass with pesto and cherry tomatoes is a regional counterpart; the risotto with Portuguese prawns and saffron is the most recent addition to stay.

Tasting menus run €130 (5 courses) and €185 (7); à la carte is available. The wine list is deliberately Italian-led with solid Portuguese and Bordeaux sections. The hotel bar and cigar terrace extend an evening naturally.

Gusto is the deal-closing room of the Algarve. The Heinz Beck brand quietly communicates seriousness to any international guest; the Italian framework of the menu keeps conversation flowing (nobody is surprised by a plate of pasta); the hotel setting makes transport and extension effortless; and the €185 tasting menu lands in the zone that a corporate card defends without complaint. The cigar terrace afterwards does the rest.