Eat Rio Blog - Page 38 of 106

Brazilian Brands: Sonho de Valsa

16/08/2013/7 Comments/in Food and drink

Brazilian Brands is back! Today’s item in the spotlight has a somewhat romantic association which reminds me of a British confectionery favourite. Rolos were (and possibly still are) milk chocolate covered caramels that came in a tube-shaped wrapper. The tag line was “Do you love anyone enough to give them your last Rolo?”. I suppose this led romantic 9 year olds to handing over a half melted choccy to the object of their desire (not that I ever gave or received one).

Anyway, on to the Brazilian chocolate for the romantically minded.

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Sonho de Valsa

Name: Sonho de Valsa

Product: Chocolate bonbon

Description: Sonho de Valsa was released by Lacta in 1938 and they say that the packaging hasn’t changed much in all those years.

As you can see, the chocolate comes in a very distinctive pink wrapper and sports a fairytale couple having a little dance. The dance in question is a valsa (waltz) and apparently the musical notes that you can just make out between the images of the couple are from an actual waltz by Johann Strauss!

Break open the wrapper and you will discover a milk chocolate covered ball. The chocolate is covering a crispy sphere, not unlike a Ferrero Rocher. Bite through the shell and you find a crunchy, buttery cashew nut filling.

Creamy cashew filling surrounded by a crunchy wafter shell and a layer of milk chocolate. Very sweet, very tasty, hits the spot.

Verdict: Am I actually turning into a Brazilian? Sonho de valsas are seriously sweet but I like them! I like the crunch from the crispy wafer shell and I like the creamy, crunchy cashew filling.

Apparently these sweets were originally designed to appeal to women (hence the mushy name) and they are now a classic gift “for your loved one”. It seems like it must have worked because Lacta’s rivals, Garoto, brought out the virtually indistinguishable Seranata de Amor (Seranade of love) in 1949.

As romantic gestures go it’s not quite up there with a dozen roses, but hey, it tastes good so stop complaining! I’ll leave you with more sappy mush highlighting Sonho de Valsa’s marketing ploy.

Awww, it’s enough to bring a tear to your eye isn’t it? It isn’t?! Oh you heartless people!

Boteco DOC and a pão de queijo burger?

15/08/2013/4 Comments/in Food and drink

Last weekend Mrs Eat Rio and I were feeling a little too lazy to make lunch, so we decided to seek out somewhere new for sustenance. After some internet research and short bus ride, we found ourselves in a modest little bar called Boteco DOC which just opened in the neighbourhood of Cosme Velho.

The first signs were good – rather than the usual fridges full of BBB (Bad Brazilian Beer, i.e. Skol, Brahma, Antarctica), the walls were stacked with Cidade Imperial, a beer from Petropolis that actually has some flavour. My tentative hopes were further bolstered when I saw the menu: interesting sounding food, prices not too insane and not too much to choose from (unless it’s somewhere seriously good, I find menus with 200 options usually spell trouble).

By the time we left an hour and a half later we were satisfied and chattering madly about one item on the menu in particular. But before I get to that, let me quickly tell you about some of the other nice surprises. First of all, the drinks were good!

This my friends, is a Lychee Caipirinha.

Photo Post: Brazilian Jumping Spider

12/08/2013/8 Comments/in Musings

Hi everyone – nice weekend? I made a couple of rather delicious discoveries that will need to be written up when I can find a moment. In the meantime, take a look at this cool jumping spider that I spotted hopping about on the roof yesterday.

Apologies to the arachnophobes out there. Hopefully it will help you to know that this is an extreme close-up. This little fellow is just 1cm across.

Rio’s food oasis

09/08/2013/8 Comments/in Food and drink

In Zona Norte, just to the east of Maracanã and just to the south of São Cristóvão lies the unremarkable neighbourhood of Praça da Bandeira. In the middle of of this neighbourhood is a street that in passing looks just like any other in the area, Rua Barão de Iguatemi. However, to foodophile Cariocas, this street is a bit special.

First of all you have Aconchego Carioca, a restaurant that was catapulted to fame (and fortune, no doubt) after it was championed by Rio’s resident French uber-chef, Claude Troisgros. It’s a cosy place (aconchego actually means ‘cosiness’ or ‘cuddle’ in Portuguese) and sells dozens of fancy beers and delicious main courses such as moqueca, but top of the list has to be the bolinhos de feijoada.

A meal in a bolinho – Black beans surround thinly cut couve and little pork/carne seca pieces. These were actually invented by the owner and are now imitated all over Brazil.

Some might say that Aconchego’s success has become a bit of a problem – the last few times I’ve wanted to go, there has been a 40-60 minute wait for a table. Luckily there are some other great options nearby!

What’s that on the floor?

06/08/2013/7 Comments/in Art and culture

As a kid I spent quite a lot of time staring out of the window when I should have been concentrating. My teachers used to say I was “staring into space” which always confused me as I thought they meant outer space! I hadn’t seen a single planet, comet or asteroid. I was just looking at the clouds…

Remember this from Amelie?

Well, it seems like Amelie and I are not the only ones. If you happened to check the Eat Rio Facebook page this morning you would have seen following mystery image. Read more