Make Harmony your Brunch House of Choice

Located on Rua Doutor Manuel Arriaga 109 loja A in Armação de Pêra, you are going to want to check this jewel of a place out for yourself, especially with it being only 400 metres from the beach!

It was wonderful to meet friendly portimonese owners and young couple, André Arcadinho and Ana Rita Nunes, who have worked in the hospitality sector for 14 and 10 years in various five-star hotels and have now brought their dream to life. Their attention to detail was unmatched, with André confirming that they “wish to provide their customers with the utmost comfort”. From the relaxing atmosphere to the restaurant’s luxury décor and cutlery to their well-presented dishes that did not fall short when it came to flavour, I have to say I was impressed.

Harmony really stands out in Armação de Pêra, much to my delight, as there is nothing quite like this on this side of the Algarve, when it comes to breakfast and brunch.

The couple work in harmony, with Ana cooking great dishes and André being the waiter and bartender. It is all about the little things they provide, like their freshly infused fruit water jug that you can help yourself to, their warm bread rolls and delightful pastries, giving it a sophisticated feel.

Harmonised Dishes

They offer a varied menu which choices to delight all foodies, using all fresh produce from brunch boards, to eggs, toasties, to smoothie bowls, poke bowls and pancakes to full on desserts. André explained their concept “We want our customers to harmonise their own plate, they can choose what they feel like eating that day and therefore are always 100 percent satisfied”.

Starting with the Harmony boards, they have four boards you can choose from: English, Mediterranean, Healthy and a Cheese board. We shared an English board which came with two types of bacon, fried egg, scrambled eggs, a smoked sausage, HP sauce, croissants, pancakes and Nutella. I could not fault it; it was all delicious and the flavours worked well together. I also thought it was a great portion which could be shared, or if you are feeling rather hungry, it is a generous portion and paired well with a frothy coffee or a fresh juice.

We also shared the Mediterranean board which was much lighter and had French toast, bread, ham, cheese, varied fresh fruit, jam and pastries. What I thought was fantastic, was the way they had vegan and vegetarian options and that they cater for specific allergies with gluten free bread and that you can personalise your breakfast and brunch to suit you no matter what your lifestyle is.

My daughter, has an egg allergy so as you can imagine most Pastelarias are off the list for us as everything has egg and I can assure you that you can’t reason with a toddler, at Harmony, she was able to enjoy a vegan pancake with strawberries and Nutella and loved every minute. André explained that he “grew up with a milk protein allergy” and told me he always felt restricted when going out to eat and could never fully enjoy his meals. “So, Harmony Brunch is for everyone and our objective is that everyone can enjoy their food here.”

You could also opt for benedict/salmon/bacon or beetroot toast served with fries and salad as well as make your own toast with toppings like avocado, different eggs and smoked salmon, as they have the longest list where there is sure to be the perfect topping for you which is the same when it comes to their egg dishes. They also serve Smoothie Bowls where you can choose your favourite ingredients and most uniquely, they serve personalised Poke bowls, which is perfect for summer. Finally, they serve a range of desserts with both vegan and non-vegan brownies, cheesecake, a dessert of the day and plenty of ice cream to enjoy.

Refreshing Cocktails

I found that the drinks menu was pretty impressive with some options offering a twist such as the red fruit mule and the strawberry margarita, so you can pair your cocktail or wine of choice with brunch or alternatively, Harmony lends itself beautifully to having a drink with friends.

Betting on Armação de Pêra

André first explained that “It has been my dream to have my own business and that Ana and I are bringing something outside the box as brunch has become increasingly popular for the Portuguese community as well as expats.” He also told me that “Armação de Pêra has a lot of traditional restaurants, burger places and Italian cuisine but there is nothing that stands out on this side for breakfast and brunch and so we wanted to be dynamic and bring something different as we felt that was what was missing.”

“We love to have an experience when we go out to eat so we wanted to bring this quality concept here and we would like to be known as the house of brunch. Armação de Pêra is being invested in and we believe it is a growing place with new investments so we hope to bring life to the area with Harmony.”

Dreamy Picnics

André explained that from August they hope to offer picnic for two which you can take to the beach with delicious treats, in which you can customise and choose from their menu, from poke bowls to toasties which are placed in recycled card boxes. They cost 30 euros and are placed in homemade baskets which you can take out for 10 euros and either keep or return and get 10 euros back.

I absolutely adored this concept and it is perfect for so many occasions as well as for beach goers, so that is something I will definitely be back to try soon as I make this my Brunch House.

Harmony is open every day throughout the months of August and September from 10am to 10pm, except for Thursdays and their Winter opening times are 10am until 7pm. For more information, please visit @Harmony_Brunch on Facebook and Instagram. If you would like to get in touch with André and Ana, please call 967 163 730 or 968 263 945 or email harmony.2022.lda@gmail.com.

Following undertaking her university degree in English with American Literature in the UK, Cristina da Costa Brookes moved back to Portugal to pursue a career in Journalism, where she has worked at The Portugal News for 3 years. Cristina’s passion lies with Arts & Culture as well as sharing all important community-related news.