Eat Rio Blog - Page 31 of 106

The Cheese Maverick of Centro

06/12/2013/12 Comments/in Food and drink

When it comes to food, we have no rules and no restrictions – the menu reflects what we see in the market and what we feel like eating right now. It could be a Thai salad, a hamburger or a traditional dish from Alsace. And right now we feel like eating couscous.

If you buy in to national stereotypes you might be surprised to hear that those words came from a Frenchman (after all, the French made most of the rules in the first place!). But Yves de Roquemaurel, owner of Coccinelle Bistro in Centro, is happy to confound stereotypes and ~~break~~ bend the rules when they get in the way of his food philosophy.

Coccinelle is situated in a sweet alleyway, just around the corner from Rua do Ouvidor.

A few months ago I wrote about the wonderful cheeses of Minas. I had tasted several, but was aware that there were many more to try – Queijo Canastra, Queijo da Mantiqueira, Queijo d’Alagoa – I had read about these cheeses (and drooled over pictures) but never had the opportunity to taste them.

Luckily for me, Yves read that post and got in touch to let me know that I didn’t need to go all the way to Minas to taste the best cheeses of Brazil. He told me he bad been importing queijos de leite cru (raw milk cheeses) direct from the cheese makers in Minas for months!

Well now, this was exciting news! But hang on a minute – “Months?” I asked. Exporting raw milk cheeses out of Minas (for sale) was only made legal in August 2013. “Ah, oh yes” Yves mumbled and quickly did some mental calculations. “For one month and 3 weeks, of course…” he grinned.

Queijo Contraband? Queijos de leite cru (raw milk cheeses): Canastra, Salitre and Alagoa. Photo © Julien Geay

Taioba

29/11/2013/19 Comments/in Food and drink

Yesterday I decided to set you guys a little test on the Eat Rio Facebook page. I wanted to know if anyone was familiar with these rather attractive leaves.

OK, sorry if I sound like a weirdo food nerd here, but they’re rather nice looking leaves aren’t they?

I’m not going to try and make out I’m some expert here. The fact is that I only discovered these leaves a few weeks ago and was wondering if everyone else knew about them but had been keeping quiet!

I was browsing Glória street market when I noticed this rather attractive bunch of leaves and asked the guy what they were called. He said something that sounded to me like ‘Tai-OPP-ah’. “Hmmm, interesting…” I thought. “I will remember to look this up when I get home”. In fact I forgot the name almost immediately and had to return about 3 times to the (thankfully) patient stall holder. When I got home and Googled it, I found that the proper name is Taioba.

There’s a new drink in town: The Caipimerda!

29/11/2013/1 Comment/in Food and drink

Merda! Sorry, but I needed to get that out of the way. The ‘M’ word is Portuguese for ‘shit’ – it isn’t the most common swear word you hear in Brazil, but it, ahem, pops out from time to time.

So why have I gone all scatological? Well, it all started when I walked into a delicatessen in Lagoa last weekend. It was a pretty fancy (read ‘extortionate’) place so I wasn’t really intending to buy anything, but I was enjoying browsing the fancy imported goods – they had everything from olive oil and pasta to beer, wine and whisky. Then I saw something in the wines and spirits section that stopped me in my tracks.

Licor de whaaaaat?

“No wonder it’s brown!” I thought…

Photo Post: Rio Rainbow

27/11/2013/7 Comments/in Musings

So there I was, up on the roof watering the plants, when I looked up and noticed that the clouds that had been gathering for the last couple of hours had started to clear. It was getting late in the day and I had been wondering if it would rain, but then the sun kind of peeped through below the clouds and lit up the Sugarloaf. I ran to get my camera. I know I bombard you guys with a lot of photos of my local monolith, but it is rather photogenic I’m sure you’ll agree.

When conditions are right, the sun lights up the face of sugarloaf and makes it look extra magnificent.

So, I was just about to put my camera down and get back to the plants when I looked over towards the bay and noticed a weird patch of rainbow in the sky. It clearly wasn’t raining anywhere, yet here was a small patch of rainbow!

“That’s weird” I thought. I kept watching it…

Organic delivery in Rio

27/11/2013/9 Comments/in Food and drink

A little while ago I posted a photo on the Eat Rio Facebook page of a rather unusual avocado which appeared to be 8.5 months pregnant…

Yes, I felt that you guys needed to see this fascinating photo of an avocado. Ground-breaking stuff right? I’m pretty sure the blog equivalent of a Pulitzer prize is just around the corner…

The ‘Preg-ocado’ (Portuguese: Grávidabacate) came to me in something rather exciting – an organic grocery delivery!

I love to grow plants – my window-boxes and roof-terrace are currently home to chilli peppers, herbs and even a couple of fruit trees – but I don’t have the space or time for lettuces, avocados and green beans, etc. So when Mrs Eat Rio told me she had heard there was a guy delivering organic produce in Rio, I was keen to know more.