If you like to eat, drink and have fun, Rio really is a great place to live. Sure it might not have the range of cuisines and night life of a cosmopolitan city like New York, nor the levels of culinary sophistication of a city like Paris, but what it lacks in those departments, it makes up in sheer gusto.
It’s only been a month since the excesses of carnaval died down, and already the spectre of the World Cup is looming (62 days and counting!). But let’s not get ahead of ourselves – this Friday (11 April) sees the start of everyone’s favourite bar food competition – Comida di Buteco 2014!
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The first time some friends from back home came out to visit me here in Rio, I was more than a little excited. It had been 18 months since I’d seen them and after such a long time, where better to have a reunion than Rio de Janeiro? On their first night in town, we had a few drinks in Copacabana and then went for a meal at La Fiorentina in Leme (sadly no longer with us).
La Fiorentina – legendary seafood and pasta restaurant on the seafront in Leme.
Back in London we would often meet up at a favourite restaurant (or try a new one), so it was like old times, chatting over a glass of wine as we perused the menu. However, when the food arrived, they realised that they weren’t in Kansas London anymore.
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When people come to visit me here in Rio, one of the first things they ask is “What are the best things to do in Rio?”. Once they’ve seen a few sights they come back with more questions (they’re very demanding) – “Can you recommend a good restaurant?”.
As discussed before, I try not to be a bore about food, but that doesn’t stop me being a little food-obsessed and keeping an eye out for the best places to eat. Recently it occurred to me that there may be other people coming to Rio who’d like a few recommendations. I don’t pretend I’m a food expert (well, maybe deep-down I do think that a little bit), but perhaps some honest recommendations could be helpful.
Hmmm, Restaurants in Rio!
I decided not to bother with negative reviews – what’s the point in me telling people “Hey, you know that place in Ipanema? You know, the one next to Praça General Osorio? Well don’t go there, it sucks”.
Instead I’ve put together a list of my favourite places in Rio. It’s not a complete list by any means. There are places like Oro that I’m still saving up to visit (I’m not made of money you know!) and I expect that there are still places I need to discover (in case you haven’t guessed, this is my disclaimer in the hopes of avoiding angry messages telling me I missed the “best place in town!”).
Hi everyone! After 5 days in Bahia I thought I’d attempt a mini-post to tell you about how things have gone so far. I only have my phone, so please excuse weird typos…
We flew into Salvador, state capital and first capital of Brazil (replaced first by Rio and then more recently by Brasilia). Salvador reminded me a bit of Panama City – large, rather ugly outer city, surrounding a beautiful, historic area that is popular with tourists. In Panama City, Casco Viejo is a lovely wreck of a neighbourhood full of beautiful crumbling facades. The perimeter is guarded by heavily armed police to keep the rich tourists safe.
Check out the phone boxes that look like coconuts!
Salvador’s equivalent is called Pelourinho and is far prettier and better maintained. Lovely old colonial houses, painted in complementary shades, line steep, cobbled streets. The heavy police presence (coupled with frequent warnings from random people) remind you that there are people who’d like to take your valuables if given the chance, but the overriding sense is that this is a city rich with music, history and culture.
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Remember I was talking about Comida di Buteco recently? Well today I thought I’d tell you about one of the participants that I visited recently. Bar do David is located in Chapeu Mangueira, a favela in the neighbourhood of Leme, right next to Copacabana. It has been on the ‘favela food map’ for a while now, renowned for its excellent food, in particular a seafood feijoada.
So, last weekend we decided to go and see what all the fuss was about. The idea of seafood feijoada had already piqued my curiosity and when I realised it was involved in the Comida di Buteco competition I had one more reason to go!
One of the best favela restaurants in Rio, Bar do David is situated in Chapéu Mangueira, not a million miles from Copacabana.
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