Rio de Janeiro, one of the most cosmopolitan Latin American’s city, boasts one of the most effervescent food scenes in Brazil. Many casual restaurants, seaside venues and botecos, how the bars are called, serve good food and very cold beer, which is enough to gather many clients that couldn’t care less about seating on the sidewalk, a tradition in the city.
But even some of them are becoming more refined, focusing in offer new gastronomic experiences and great dishes for its diners. Rio offers good options for fine dining places, as well – the city is more and more showing its gastronomic potential.
While he is not cooking in the kitchen of his restaurants Oro (chosen as the Latin America’s 50 Best Restaurants 2017 One To Watch) and Pipo or shooting the new episodes of cooking TV shows The Taste Brasil and Perto do Fogo, Brazilian chef Felipe Bronze struggles to find an opening in his schedule to enjoy the gastronomic scene of Rio de Janeiro.
Here he shares some of his favourite spots so you can eat like a carioca in his city.
Breakfast time
“I really like Slow Bakery, a Brooklyn-style bakery in Botafogo neighborhood with local quality products and organic/sustainable/footprint approach. Of course none of this would make sense if the loaf wasn’t spectacular. And Rafael Brito‘s “Rio sourdough” is nothing but spectacular.”
Slow Bakery
São João Batista, 93 – Botafogo, Rio de Janeiro
Website
Comfort Food
“More than the unmissable and awarded restaurant Olympe, French chef Claude Troisgros – who belongs to the iconic Troisgros family and who fixed his roots in Brazil – bet on a fast casual concept with his ‘CT’ venues, a mix of hearty food and cozy room. I feel at home in his CT Brasserie, I really love the atmosphere.”
CT Brasserie
São Conrado Fashion Mall, Village Mall, Rio de Janeiro
Website
“I also have a familiar connection to the Japanese restaurant Ten Kai, a place that I have been visiting for many years.”
Ten Kai
R. Prudente de Morais,- Ipanema, Rio de Janeiro
Website
Casual Dining
“Rio de Janeiro is also known for its casual and bar culture. Botecos serve good food and very cold beer. In this sense, Filé de Ouro is unbeatable. Try the good old and well done steak with fries, casual and delicious, as well the tasty cod fritters, a Portuguese heritage that became a tradition in Rio.”
Filé de Ouro
R. Jardim Botânico, 731 – Lagoa
Website
“Bar Lagoa is still a great option to eat milanesa (breaded steak) with potato salad, as well as to eat pastel (deep fried pocket thin crust pie with assorted fillings, from ground meat to palm heart) in Álvaros, or to sip some caipirinhas in Guimas da Gávea. These places do not have the most spectacular and updated cuisine in the world, but they offer a delightful visit to the past through the food filled with the good memories that only these places can bring.”
Álvaros
Av. Ataulfo de Paiva, 500 – Leblon
Website
Bar Lagoa
Av. Epitácio Pessoa, 1674
Website
Guimas da Gávea
R. José Roberto Macedo Soares, 5 – Gávea
Website
Rio de Janeiro’s soul
“It’s hard to elect only one place that can translate the carioca soul. Rio has a few different faces: if you thinking of a wonderful view, restaurant Aprazível has to be on your list. The food is honest, well made.”
Aprazível
R. Aprazível, 62 – Santa Teresa
Website
“Azur, from chef Pedro Artagão, is a beachside venue in Leblon beach, a good outing.”
Azur
Rua Demfim Moreira – Posto 11
“Talking about bars, Aconchego Carioca is the one with the best food, hearty and flavorful dishes, besides being a typical carioca boteco in the interesting North Zone, full of influences of the Northeastern cuisine. I love it, both in shape and content.”
Aconchego Carioca
R. Barão de Iguatemi, 379 – Praca da Bandeira
Fine dining Restaurants
“You cannot escape the obvious: Lasai’s chef Rafa Costa e Silva is taking his ingredient-based cuisine to the next level.”
Lasai
Rua Conde de Irajá, 191
Website
“Thomas Troisgros is stamping 100% of his personal style in Olympe, a difficult task to achieve as he has to replace an icon like his father, Claude Troisgros.”
Olympe
R. Custódio Serrão, 62 – Lagoa
Website
“But I can’t leave out some of the most brilliant, talented and incredible chefs I know: Rodrigo Guimarães, Henrique Rossanelli, Henrique Ide, Gabriel Coelho and Bruno Guarnido, chefs who work with me at Pipo and Oro. A great staff comprised of great professionals who cook a lot and steer the wheel when I am not at the restaurants – and when I am too. My signature today is made by many hands, and it would be dishonest of me not to share our success with them.”
