Restaurante T&C — Restaurant in Vila Nova de Gaia

Fantastic restaurant in the WOW district. We had wanted to go to Taylor's but we didn't have a reservation, so rather than waiting the hostess recommended we walk down the street to T&C. We are so happy we did. My friends each had the traditional Portuguese sandwich, the Franceshina. One standard with meat and the other vegan with tofu and eggplant. Both were equally delicious. I had 2 starters. The cod cakes and the tempura battered green beans. Both were beyond! We sat on the patio. The ambience was perfect for a midday meal. The somallier Gustavo was our favorite part. First he recommended a wonderful Portuguese white wine to go with our meal. Then we watched him decant a bottle of red wine for another table beautifully and then explained the art of decanting to us. The most fabulous was when we told him we wanted to have some port after the meal and he turned it into a port tasting and ordered us fantastic desserts to go with the 4 different ports he introduced us to. An amazing custard that can't even be explained and a cheese, apricot jam and walnut plate. He then took his time to really give us a lesson on port in general and the 4 specific ones he was having us taste. We were so happy to have happened...

We had such a lovely diner at this place. First of all, the food was simply delicious. The order included steak and seabass - both meat and fish were impeccable and perfectly cooked. Portions are good with plenty of garnish.

Portuguese flan for desert was spot on. Desert was quite small, but frankly we were happy with the size. Wine options are limited, but the choice is good. Port is excellent.

The interior deserves kudos on its own. It’s stone and wood, some tables are placed within the wine barrels - such a smart way. There is a small fireplace in the middle of the room. Overall it’s very atmospheric and chill.

Service is good. May be only tiny details to improve. We arrived for 7pm diner and there were no lamps on the table then - it was hard reading the menu. They also gave us just one menu for two people, no idea why. But once we ordered everything went smoothly - the food arrived quickly, we didn’t have to wait a lot for any other next steps, so all good.

Reservations is very much...

The food is ok but the wait time and service quality is questionable. We ordered the tempura for starters, the food is served without cutleries and napkins. So when the waitress came to take the plate we asked for some napkins to clean our hands. After 20' the same waitress came and asked us if we were waiting for something because there were only drinks on our table and if we have already ordered. We then told them that we were expecting our main dishes and some napkins. And you can see in my picture we got a stack of napkins (hooray i guess 🎉) . I am not usually leaving reviews like this but i hope they can improve their service better. P/s: all other restaurants we went to in the other areas were great (friendly, quick and professional), so with this level of restaurant (higher class, more expensive of course) with this level of service is just...