Ararate

• São Sebastião (Linha Vermelha/Azul)
• €€€
• Av. Conde Valbom 70, 1050-099

For a region which we expect few could point to confidently on the map, the Caucasus mountains, covering Russia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Iran and Armenia is certainly well represented in Lisbon. Be it classic Persian kebabs, or Georgian bread and beans, this regional cuisine has not let us down wherever we've tried it. And pleasingly we can now add Ararate to the list, which represents the Armenian take on these delightful recipes.

This small landlocked nation, roughly the size of Maryland, with a population the size of Kansas, sits at the intersection of where Europe meets Asia and has long produced cultural significance far above its size. From Noah to Kardashian, Armenian heritage has dominated for millenia. Here is Lisbon, that dominance is also found in the Calouste Gulbenkian museum, set up by the industrialist, and one of the more interesting museums in the city. Maybe then it is no coincidence that Ararate is just a couple of streets over.

With a very extensive menu spread across cold and warm starters, soups, kebabs and sharing platters, we deliberated on the best way to proceed, and opted for sharing everything. This helped us to whittle down what we wanted and allowed for a greater spread of flavours. This meant first up was a sharing bowl of 'eggplant caviar', chargrilled eggplant (aubergine) and bell peppers, crushed with a herb mix, some khinkali, stuffed dumplings and a khachapuri barco.

The dip was fresh, smokey and very dependable, meanwhile the we discovered khachapuri is the Armenian word for what Georgian's call adjaruli. Once again, we found ourselves sliding into a trance of molten cheese, bread and egg. How this dish isn't served the world over as a bar snack we do not know. It is one of the most satisfying foodstuffs we've ever encountered.

However, despite how much we love the eggy, cheesy bread, our hearts now belong to khinkali. These hulking dough balls, carefully crafted with a stem for holding have rendered all other dumplings obsolete in our opinion*. Packed with minced lamb, herbs and slight broth, they inspire like xiaolongbao, but with just added oomph. The meatball in the centre so delicately flavoured with herbs and broth you would think Juicero would have succeeded if they did dumplings instead.

*this is manifestly untrue

With lamb being the dominant protein on the menu we topped off the order with a whole shish kebab with more chargrilled vegetables to share. Once again the perfect harmony of meat, herb and smoke danced through the tastebuds in perfect step with one another.

We knew nothing of Armenian food before dropping in at Ararate, and it's clear how its geography influences so many of its choices. But all in all, this was really really good food. Well worth the money and doing unique takes on simple yet pleasing recipes. If you think a trip all the way to Yerevan is too much for you, then take a walk round the Gulbenkian and then come here for dinner instead.

Drinks: A couple of glasses of wine from Armenia and Portugal with coffees

Don’t forget to order: No khink shaming with just ordering loads of dumplings.