Templo da Carne Marcos Bassi

I have eaten in a lot of dining rooms that try this hard. Templo da Carne Marcos Bassi is one of the few that pulls it off without looking like it is trying.

The room is exactly what you want it to be: Bixiga butcher shop turned dining altar. We were seated near the back, given menus we hardly needed, and brought a small bowl of olives without being asked.

We started with house-cured beef carpaccio, which set the tone — generous, unfussy, and confident enough not to crowd what was coming. With it we ordered a quiet Brunello from the back of the list, and were glad of both.

Then the main event: costela bassi, the dish that puts Templo da Carne Marcos Bassi on every short list. The crust was the colour of dark mahogany, and the inside was a confident, even pink the whole way through. The signature touch — the slow-cooked beef rib, falling off the bone — is not a gimmick; it is the reason to come.

For sides we asked for buttered haricots verts and grilled radicchio with anchovy butter. Both arrived hot, both arrived early, both were exactly large enough to overdo it. We overdid it.

Dessert was tiramisu, just barely too much, mostly because the waiter raised an eyebrow when we hesitated. He was right to.

It is not cheap. It is, in this case, worth it.