I’m surprised that Carly Simon’s “Anticipation” doesn’t play on a loop at Foreigner, a tiny fine-dining restaurant where anticipation is key to enjoying the delicious decadence of an11-course gourmet dinner.
Upon arriving, you’ll be seated at one of 10 high-top chairs along a counter facing the open kitchen. Only a simple placemat and an empty water glass will be there. You’ll receive water (tap or bottled) and a mini spoon that you’ll suspect might be for caviar.
Spoiler: It is for caviar, served atop a footed bowl filled with an insanely creamy and subtly lemony oyster and potato-turnip froth known as the Black Egg. But first you’ll merely watch as one cook brings, say, a small pot filled with aromatic orange liquid and another melts butter.
You’ll question why a hunk of imported on-the-bone
Ibérico ham, held by a brace, sits on the food counter. Peek into the back kitchen and you might eye a line of cotton-candy cones standing vertically. Well, you’ll muse, that’s interesting.
All the while, the culinary team will be quietly bustling to an intriguing soundtrack (music is played on an old-school turntable) that will include everything from bossa nova to hits from the ’90s. Nobody is in a hurry, nor should they be for an experience like this.
After a lengthy interlude (remember: anticipation!), you’ll begin a multicourse mystery tasting meal that will feature a cavalcade of delightful dishes presented artfully, one by one. “I’m trying to create memories as much as possible,” says chef-owner Bruno Fonseca. “I want the staff to be involved with the guests, yet not intrusive.”
Fonseca calls it a “confiance” dinner. That’s a flowy French word that he uses to mean “trust us; relax while the chef serves you several surprise courses.” It’s what the Japanese refer to as “omakase”—only here the flavors are mostly North American and European instead of Asian.
Confiance-style service encompassing a broad range of flavors is a natural fit for Fonseca, a Brazilian-born chef with Spanish, Portuguese and Italian roots who has lived in Florida since attending FSU in 1998.
While Fonseca’s Rio de Janeiro childhood home was decidedly middle class, his mother nonetheless found the funds to take him to the city’s finest restaurants on a fairly regular basis. “I went to Michelin-starred restaurants and also to fine French restaurants that had confiance menus,” says Fonseca.
Consequently, the youngster learned to respect chefs as he respects doctors. “You don’t tell doctors what you want done,” he adds. “You trust whoever has the expertise.” Not that you have no choices to make at Foreigner. You’ll eventually be asked if you wish to order wine or beer (or a wine pairing) and if you’d prefer white truffles, black truffles or a caviar course for an extra fee.
Once all upgrade orders are in, your meal will begin with a mocktail—perhaps a bright, chilled, kissed-with-sweetness passion fruit, hibiscus and rosé-syrup tea—which was offered during one of our recent visits. Then, at a relaxed pace, the march of food will begin.
Your meal will be different from mine, but to give you an idea: I had foie gras over a buttery tart with Chantilly coconut cream and bananas as well as slices of reformulated scallop with pickled beets and hazelnut chunks with greens in a truffle vinaigrette.
Then came black sourdough bread with black-truffle, black-garlic butter together with capon-stuffed fried pastry with chestnut butter. Later on, you might experience salt-cod ravioli with braised pork and anchovy-tomato sauce. Or dry-aged wagyu beef with mushroom paper and fancied-up potatoes with spicy aioli.
Nearly everything on the menu, however esoteric, will be locally sourced. “It boggles my mind that restaurants serve salmon from other parts of the world while we have an abundance of fish from the west and east coasts of Florida,” says Fonseca.
The sweets, too, will just keep on coming. That cotton candy you previously spotted? It has a chunk of soft French Langres Chalancey cheese tucked inside. The chocolate ravioli is loaded with Morello cherries, topped with creamy ricotta and crumbled pistachios, then placed on a black currant purée alongside honey-ricotta-black-pepper ice cream.
All of this takes place in a surprisingly polished space, considering its address in one of the shabby yet iconic strip centers in the Audubon Park Garden District. You’ll spot the dimly lit bubble lights through a window next door to the resale shop Chic Boutique.
The interior boasts a sleek mid-century modern look, with simple button sconces, ceiling pin lights, straightforward woods and, by a big table in front, a breakfront with glassware.
Spend an evening at that counter and you’ll wonder how such a place came to be. Let’s start with the name, shall we? While a frat boy at FSU, Fonseca was playfully referred to as “that foreign guy,” a moniker that he embraced and later used to brand his restaurant.
He left college after falling in love with cooking and has spent most of his 32 years in the U.S. working in professional kitchens. In Orlando, he trained most notably at the elegant Norman’s Orlando back when it was in the Ritz-Carlton.
Later, Fonseca supervised the back of the house at Millennia 106 Restaurant & Bar, a short-lived but much-missed (by me, at least) fine-dining restaurant near the massive mall. He also studied and taught at Orlando’s Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts in Orlando.
Foreigner is a special-event choice since dinners start at $195 per person—more if you add on the luxury foods or wine pairings. I spent an extra $95 for the “premium” wine pairing, poured enthusiastically by bubbly sommelier Brett Ware.
The pours were generous and spot-on for the foods served. For $190 you can indulge instead in a “reserve” wine pairing. I declined the other upgrades and didn’t miss them. I got my share of caviar and truffles anyway and left 100 percent satisfied.
Should you add the caviar option, during the meal you’ll receive Royal Ossetre from Petrossian, presented on a family-heirloom silver platter together with seared Pont Neuf potatoes confit in duck fat and four condiments, including egg yolk jam and crème fraîche with preserved lemon.
Plan ahead, because Foreigner often has only two seatings a night, three nights a week—plus two brunches each Saturday. Once you book, you may as well start humming “Anticipation.”
Foreigner Restaurant
2816 Corrine Drive, Orlando
321-517-6985 • oreignerrestaurant.com