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Big changes take time

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I’ve been working hard on some big changes for the Eat Rio site over the last couple of weeks. Because of that I haven’t had so much time to write blog posts (though I’ve been trying not to leave it too long!). The changes are ongoing, but I hope to introduce the first of them to you in the next few days!

In the meantime I’d like to leave you with this photo of the gnarled face of Pão de Açúcar (Sugarloaf Mountain) that I took yesterday evening. From a distance it might seem like a nice smooth stone face, but when you take a closer look you can see that this ancient rock (600 million years old apparently) has a fair bit of wear and tear.

 

Sugarloaf close-up

The ancient rock of Pão de Açúcar in the background with more recent structures of Santo Amaro favela in the foreground. Notice the pipa (kite) swirling away over the rooftops.

 

 

Filming in Vidigal

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One of the nice things about blogging is that once in a while some interesting spin-off opportunity comes along. A little while back I was contacted by a British television company who were looking for information about the restaurants and food scene in Rio. They were preparing to make programme in which a celebrity chef would travel through a selection of countries, learning about the local food and taking part in various cooking challenges. We had a couple of meetings, went for some drinks, I offered some suggestions and a few months later we were filming!

Vidigal from Leblon at sunset

Filming took place in the neighbourhood of Lapa and also in Vidigal, a favela next to Leblon. This is a shot of Vidigal taken from the beach in Leblon at sunset.

 

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Great food in a favela: Bar do David

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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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Wark This Way!

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As regular readers of Eat Rio will know, I have a small obsession with graffiti. I love spotting new pieces as they appear and getting to recognise the work of particular artists or crews. Soon after I arrived here, one character caught my attention and the more I travelled within the city, the more I saw his rather unseemly face.

Not a particularly friendly or happy character is he?

 

I have to say, I wasn’t a big fan of this series of often sneering characters. But they were striking and something about them really  jumped out at me. In my head I dubbed them ‘Ballmen’ and the more I looked around, the more I realised that there were many different variations dotted around the streets of Rio.

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The favela drug lord and the Congolese Consul

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Big news in Rio today – the boss of Rocinha, Rio’s largest favela, was detained last night. Going by the nickname of Nem, he had a price on his head and the story of his capture really belongs in a film.

Nem – presumably not smiling now…