Cock on the Moutain Top
Well, as usual for Saturdays in November/December, it rained again today. This made it impossible, once again, for me to do a job I’ve been meaning to do for ages (putting up a trellis since you ask). After glowering at the rain for an hour or so, I decided to go and do something else that I’ve been meaning to do for a while – a food mission!
One of the things I really miss about London is the great variety of world food available. In particular I miss the zingy flavours and spice of Thai, Vietnamese and Indian food. The few Southeast Asian restaurants I’ve seen are either mediocre or expensive (or both!) and the supermarkets don’t stock the ingredients essential to these cuisines, so until today I have had to go without.
Then, a couple of months ago, we were riding on the bus through the neighbourhood of Flamengo when we spotted this:
Although I pass this place everyday on my way to work, I'm always late and so never have time to stop in. Today I made it my mission to go and check it out.
And so, with the weather alternating between light drizzle and heavy downpour, I set off to check out what, as far as I know, is the only Asian market in Zona Sul. I had no idea I was going to find cock on the mountain top…
I have to confess, I didn’t have high hopes for this place. If there is only one game in town, where’s the incentive to be any good? I strolled in thinking that if I could find Nam Pla and Kaffir lime leaves (for Thai food) and garam masala and cardamom pods (for Indian food) then I would call it a successful mission.
Well, I have to tell you, this place is great! The shelves were stuffed full of an amazing array of herbs, spices, oils, condiments, teas, preserved fruit, dried seaweed and mushrooms, noodles, rice, soups, sweets and drinks, fresh fruit, vegetables, frozen wontons, and a lot of things I couldn’t even identify! The items are roughly organised according to country – Chinese, Korean, Thai, Vietnamese, Japanese, Indian – and I went around the shop several times just looking at everything like I was in a museum!
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| Amazing ingredients, from floor to ceiling. |
Seriously, there was some crazy stuff here. Dried Lotus Root? Night-flowering Cereus? Or how about these two:
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| You may not be able to read the labels so let me tell you that the white fuzzy stuff on the left is ‘Snow Fungus’. The dark stuff on the right is ‘Black Moss’. Very cool. I mean, I have no idea what you do with them (soup maybe?) but very cool nonetheless. |
I also spotted a packet of assorted dried herbs and other items that was labelled ‘Hericium Isinglass Soup’. This sounded like some kind of witch’s concoction and the label did nothing to dispel that impression:
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| A little research tells me that Isinglass is made from the swim-bladders of fish! You can see them on the left. The label claims that the soup will nourish yin, tone the kidney, replenish ‘vital essence’ (lol), improve eyesight, improve lung and kidney function, treat vertigo, dizziness, tinnitus, parched lips, burning tongue, bowel blockage, insomnia and prevent ‘frequent urination of the elderly at night’. |
I’m actually amazed that I hadn’t heard of this soup before seeing as it apparently treats most human ailments!
Well, I had a lot of fun browsing the shelves, but eventually I decided it was time to grab the things I needed and make tracks. The Indian section was a little light, so I wasn’t able to find garam masala, but I picked up everything else I had come for, plus a whole load of bonus items:
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| Oh yes! Going clockwise from the left, Cardamom pods (the biggest I’ve ever seen), Kaffir Lime leaves, Nam Pla, toasted sesame oil, chilli and garlic sauce, satay seasoning and Vietnamese rice paper for Summer Rolls. |
It wasn’t until I got home that I realised I’d bought some Cock:
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| I love the way they present the text: SUPREME QUALITY COCK ON THE MOUNTAIN TOP. |
For anyone interested in tracking down this shop of delights, here’s a map:
Thank god they have an asian store in Rio! I love most Asian foods, especially Japanese and Thai.
Is the Asian population growing in Rio?
Awesome. You guys in Rio should definitely give this place support via word of mouth. Tell all the other expats about it so they can spend some money there. It would be a shame if it closed as it seems to be the only one to carry many cool items.
Alex, you should have seen me yesterday when I realised what an oasis this place is. It made my week. I'm not sure about the Asian population here – I know it's big in São Paulo. On an anecdotal level, I don't see a lot of Asian faces…
Gritty, I definitely plan to support this place. A lot of my wife's friends sounded quite interested when I suggested I might do an Indian curry and also a Thai Green Curry – if the results are any good, hopefully they'll get a taste for it and become regular customers!
Tom,
I was wondering if you could post the address of this place here in the message box. I would like to send it off to my Rio e-mail contacts. Unfortunetaly the pic only offers the phone number and I know some people will be embarrased to call due to their Portuguese (yes, silly I know since how else will you learn, but it seems we humans are often like that).
Thanks again for these tips (and I'll spare all the leper joke that would usually end that sentence).
Good idea Gritty. The address is Rua Marquês de Abrantes 219, Flamengo. I've added a map too.
thank you thank you for the tip! ive been trying to figure out like a crazy person how to get fish sauce around here!
Hey Eva, no problem! I was so pleased to discover this place that I just had to share. Apparently (see the comments on 12/Dec/2011 post) there are a couple of other places too… http://www.casavitana.com.br/
I got link to your blog from internations. Need to check out this place. But you do find a lot of Basic Indian Spices Feira Terca Feira at general osorio. Also though indian stuff i smuch less you´ll find other oriental sauces in abundance in mainly places like Bem-Estar, mundo verde, armazem outlets. Been to all of these places and have sen quite a lot of oriental items.
And since i remember reading somewhere that you miss indian curries of london, there is also a club started by another britisher here called Curry Clube , You can find this on facebook in by name "Curry clube" Currently though its closed till carnival apparently. Bt being an indian iam dying to go there and get a taste of brazil indian food! :)
Oh yeah just next to my office in gloria, there is restaurant called matriarcado! It has all indian spices like garam masala, smabhar masala, tandoori masala, (not just basic) :), you also find oriental stuff
http://www.matriarcado.com.br/
hope it helps :)
vimarshan
Wow! Thanks for this Vimarshan, what a lot of great tips/information! Especially good to hear that there are more Indian spices – I wasn't able to find garam masala for the curry I made last night (it was still yummy though! A Madhur Jaffrey classic…).
I had heard mention of the Curry Clube (someone asked if it was me as we are both English, both called Tom and both live in Santa Teresa!). I will definitely be going to check it out when he's back from England.
And Matriarcado is pretty close to my place as well! I will be dropping in shortly to see what they have :)
I wouldn`t mind at all to come over when you decide to cook some asian food… Just letting you know! :)
Just throwing it out there huh Karin?! Heh heh! Well I'm sure something can be arranged… :)
Asian food is every bit as diverse as it is delicious. I used to think that I knew Asian foods growing up. You see, we used to go out to Chinese and practically every weekend. They were a couple Chinese restaurants in the neighborhood, and they were perfect for us kids. They were greasy, flavorful, and we got a cookie at the end of every meal. What more could a child ask for?:
The other day I noticed that soup-based dishes aren’t really a “thing” here in Rio. Outside of the thick sopa de ervilha or sopa de brocolis and of course caldo de feijão, spoons are used almost exclusively for stirring coffee.
I discovered from a Paulistana transplant that there is a store in Laranjeras that sells only Japanese stuff… for those of you who want to make dashi and dare I say ramen?
In my opinion, there’s an unmet demand for diversifying the food scene. Whoever opens the first Cantonese char-siu shop (Chinese bbq) that sells carnivore friendly favorites, or a casual boteco serving Indian/Pakistani greatest hits would undoubtedly be noticed and quite likely successful. People in Zona Sul go to Tijuca just to eat at Primera Pá (Chinese food worth traveling for in Rio) and sushi is a more commonly ordered takeout food than pizza in the more upscale neighborhoods. The groundwork exists… there needs now to be a builder.
And then I can stop going to São Paulo every time I want ramen.
Hi Sei! :) Long time man – how’s it going? How did the job hunt go?
You’re dead right! I’ve been thinking just this for ages. I miss curries from the subcontinent so much that I’ve been making my own for the last year or two. Totally delicious (if I say so myself) and they’ve been a big hit when we’ve had parties. I’m sure that someone with a little experience in restaurants could be a huge success here. In fact I’ve toyed with the idea for a while now, but I guess I’m just a bit scared to give it a try having never even worked as a waiter. But you’re right – I’ve been thinking for ages that Rio is a hotbed of opportunity for someone enterprising (and with cojones!) ;)