Vá-Vá

The Shop

Located at the intersection of Avenida de Roma and Avenida dos Estados Unidos, this restaurant owes its name to a Brazilian football player who was famous at the time it opened (1958). Designed by the renowned “architect without a degree”, Eduardo Anahory, it was one of several architectural experiments in the then new neighbourhood of Alvalade. Up until the Revolution of April 1975 it was an important meeting place for thinkers and artists, in particular for those devoted to the New Cinema, who were united in their political views and resistance, to the point that one later spoke of the “Vá-Vá generation”. In the 1980s, now under a democratic regime, the restaurant was where band members of the New Rock movement met.

New Vá-Vá customers today will find a patisserie with a very different ambience, but with the same spatiality essentially preserved. A recent renovation project (2017) revealed hidden azulejo tiles by Menez whilst maintaining the main characteristics of the space imagined by Anahory.