Restaurant review: I can see why one dish went viral within hours of this place opening

And the cacio e pepe is so well executed that it could calm a Lazio Ultra supporter following a three-nil defeat by Juventas.

Lena restuarant in Portobelo, Dublin. Photograph Moya Nolan

An Italian friend of mine, long resident in Ireland, avoids talking about food with fellow Italians as it always leads to arguments. Everyone’s mamma or nonna cooks better than everyone else’s; in Italy food is never fuel, it is culture, it is everything.

So, can three Irish people open an Italian restaurant in what used to be Locks? Of course they can if they are Liz Matthews, Simon Barrett and Paul McNamara, who already run Uno Mas and Etto, two of Dublin’s best-loved restaurants.