The tables at 150 Gramas, in the never-quiet Vila Franca de Xira, are hotly contested, and for a good reason. We're not talking about the Ovos Rotos with Asparagus and Ventricina, surely one of the best you'll find, even if you scour the corners of the Peninsula. Nor are we talking about the Socarrat, which begs the Valencian one's pardon. Not even the Tartar de Rúbia Galega, the Ossobuco Croquettes, the Crab Brioche, the Shrimp mongrel, the Roast Beef Sandwich, the Puntillitas, the Anchovy Bruschetta, the Korean Pica-Pau or the Oxtail Cannelloni. And don't get us started on the Mini-Berlin Ball, the Sweet U or the Meringue and Lemon Tart, because that's certainly not what we're talking about.
Nor are we talking about the staff, who may have been selected for their competence or their friendliness - the criteria remain nebulous. Nor to the restaurant space itself, which is not only comfortable, but decorated with irreverent care and with everything in plain sight: what you're eating is what you can, if you want to, watch being cooked.
To our readers from Lisbon who live in the anguish of not being a few dozen kilometres closer to 150 Gramas - which, by the way, is a project by Pedro Teles and Ricardo Leal, the successor to the long-running Vila Franca pizzeria Bodega 150 - we bring good news: you can now also pop into the cultural space 8 Marvila, where Pedro and Ricardo have a food truck which, if it doesn't offer the variety of its parent restaurant, certainly offers enough (including ovos rotos! ) to set off some firecrackers and get the party started in the capital city.
Did we tell you that the tables at 150 Gramas, in Vila Franca de Xira, are hotly contested for a good reason? It looks like you'll have to go there to find out what.
