Louis Anjos' Al Sud, Palmares Resort in Odiàxere, Algarve, Portugal

A Michelin restaurant inside a golf course? Yes, but there is more.

Located inside a golf course with villas and hotels, Al Sud is more the fabric of my nightmares than my dreams: elderly and ailing WASPS running around in white golf carts chasing tiny balls like they likely do in Mar A Lago, spouses with those strange berets leaving the top of the head uncovered, tons of water used for a fraction of people, and a general feeling that this lifestyle is a relic of a long gone era.

And yet, young people come to the Algarve and play golf, blissfully indifferent to drought and climate change.

Al Sud, Chef Louis Anjos’ restaurant, is located here. Unfortunately, only capital can sustain fine dining, and he has to squeeze into a golf clubhouse, next to a golfer swallowing greasy burgers, to be able to perform his food magic.

You live right next to the sea, in an oasis that seems too good to be true -and in fact, is a selective club only available for the one per cent. One per cent that I do not know how appreciative can be of the delicious marzipan miniatures the staff leaves in each room, a relic of a common Al Andalus heritage stretching from the Algarve, the old Gharb, till Sicily.

This local version of Frutta Martorana is genuinely something special. Filled with the obvious Portuguese egg and sugar threads, biting into it made me feel appeased for having to spend time near golfers.