When, in the summer of 2016, Austrian Katharina Grafl (36) headed to Ericeira for a well-earned holiday, she never imagined she would fall in love with the destination to the point of never wanting to return home. Even so, when the moment of departure arrived, she packed her bags to return to her home country, where she worked in tourism.
Getting a job at PortugalSurfCamp, a hostel he would come to run for two years, reinforced his desire to extend his stay. In February 2019, he joined the Selina team, in which he stayed for a year. "When the contract was about to be renewed and I was going to return to Austria for a project the group had there, the pandemic broke out and those plans ended up not coming to fruition. I then saw the opportunity to start a business of my own."
He created Balagan, where Middle Eastern flavours are the main protagonists. "At the time, it seemed to me that this cuisine wasn't very well explored in the country. Only a few specific restaurants in Lisbon, others in Oporto, but nothing in terms of representing the gastronomies of this region. As it was something I really enjoyed and something I missed, I decided to invest in it, not least because the products needed to put it into practice are easily found locally."
