'Por Quilo'

Por Quilo restaurants are really popular in Brasil. We'd never heard of the concept before we lived in Sao Paolo and they seem even more popular here in Rio. Here's how it goes:

1. you enter the restaurant and are given a ticket
2. you help yourself to food at the buffet
3. you take your plate to be weighed and get your ticket printed with the weight of your food and the price. (The plate isn't included in the weight, nor is bread, but sauces are).
3. you gulp at the weight on the ticket and try not to think about it as you eat.
4. if you're eating with someone else who's also new to the system, you compare the weight of each other's dish (like when Bb and I go together)
5. you realise you still can't eat what's on your plate, even though you were careful not to be greedy. And then you feel guilty.
6. you do the same again for dessert
7. you pay on the way out.

The buffets are usually very good - lots of salads and vegetables. Problem is that the other things are also good too and they're right there in front of you, saying, 'choose me, choose me!' You're given the cutlery when your plate is weighed and if you back for another plate of anything, your cutlery is quickly cleared away to stop you bucking the sytem. All restaurants are quite happy to give you what you haven't eaten to take away with you.

These are my two tickets for my dinner tonight. The cheaper price was for my salads starter and the other one for my main course. No pudding! The price works out at around 11 euros or £10 and that included a large fresh orange. Not too bad value for money I think and this is at the mid-range of por quilo restaurants and in our street.

Notice I haven't mentioned the weight.