Known for the excellent price point of its beers (the cheapest in Zona Sul), Ziza Bar also serves wonderful northeastern cooking, in dishes straight out of the state of Ceará. Read more.
These grilled quails are lip-smackingly delicious. Feio attributes this to the sauce, which is wine-based, as well as to some combination of herbs and secrets that he will not reveal to anyone. Read more.
Try the rabada pasteis, a fried pie stuffed with oxtail, and the cod balls with cashews. Every Saturday, there's feijoada alongside good samba, and on Tuesdays the beer comes in a “double dose.” Read more.
Just watching the ribs being cooked in their special pouches is already part of the fun. It’s a beef rib, but it might as well come from a T-Rex, and it’s big enough to feed a platoon. Read more.
The beer menu lists imports, national microbreweries and Botto’s own inventions. Our favorite Brazilian option was the Three Monkies, a light, spritzy golden ale. Also recommend the Noi Amara IPA. Read more.
The risotto de alho negro com abóbora is made with fermented black garlic, which becomes pungent & sweet mixed with the pumpkin. The homemade tamarind & lime soda is refreshing, not overly sugary. Read more.
Mr. Juan’s establishment is one of the most traditional among those of the Spanish botequins. Read more.
We also recommend lunch here, featuring that particularly Iberian dish of grilled octopus with rice and broccoli. Oh, and It was at Casa Villarino that Vinicius de Moraes and Tom Jobim first met! Read more.
Terrific bolinhos de abóbora com carne seca (little fried balls filled with pumpkin and dried meat) and the “Filé a Gracioso” is one of the most delicious meat dishes you’ll ever find in a botequin. Read more.
Get the bolinhos de bacalhau, or cod balls, a typical Portuguese snack that is very popular in botequins. (click link for our full review) Read more.
At the entrance is an expensive restaurant. But ignore that and go straight to the back, to a U-shaped counter outside, serving the same dishes, but in small portions and at lower prices.
Perhaps the best-preserved old botequim in the city and is worth a visit just to see the walls and decorations, with Portuguese tiles and traditional Catholic iconography cohabitating with beer racks. Read more.
The cod balls here are almost as good as the ones at Adonis, and we also recommend the sardinhas ao escabeche com batatas (boiled sardines with potato) as well as the bacalhau frito (fried cod). Read more.
Packed during lunchtime, when cariocas take their sacred horário de almoço. Cheery stragglers keep the bar open until at least 10 p.m., when the petisco (appetizer) menu is on tap. Read more.
The pastel de nata (custard tart) is a most traditional Portuguese sweet to accompany an espresso com chantilly (whipped cream). (click link for full review) Read more.
Café D.R.I, inside the mansion, offers iced coffee and lattes in addition to an extensive breakfast menu and afternoon tea. Through the mansion’s open roof, diners can see the Christ statue. Read more.
Curto’s staff put out a blackboard that counts out their costs and expenses, telling you that their prime material for a small espresso is 50 centavos. You are invited to pay above that amount. Read more.
We suggest the sweet potato nhoque with gorgonzola cheese sauce and a pingado (“little drop”), an espresso with a bit of milk. (follow link for our other coffee favorites in Rio) Read more.
Be sure to save room for the desserts, such as the steamed guava cooked in passion fruit sauce and the carimbó, Brazil nut ice cream served with cupuaçú jelly. (follow link for our full review) Read more.
We suggest the camarones com mel de naranja, fried and battered shrimp with an orange and honey sauce, and the canchitas con chifles, nicely chewy big corn kernels with plantain chips. Read more.
For sides, go local with the lightly bitter jiló, “scarlet eggplant,” a food that Brazilians either love or hate. An eater with exotic tastes could try the ostrich sausage. (full review linked) Read more.
Try the moqueca de banana, sweet plantains in a rich coconut-milk stew with rice, and the appetizer bolinhos de queijo coalho, salty white cheese battered and fried, served with bitter açaí sauce. Read more.
The pastel italiano, with bitter, pungent gorgonzola cheese, bright and tangy sundried tomatoes and punchy arugula, is our favorite of the 65 pastéis.
Bruno’s pudgy French fries, the batatas rústicas,are served with rosemary and pots of mango chutney and peppery mayonnaise. They are the best fries in Rio. Read more.
Our favorite among the pizzas is the pesto with mozzarella, juicy tomato slices and pecorino (sheep’s milk cheese). Read more.
The Assumpção family serves up a wonderfully refreshing salada de tofu com gengibre (tofu salad with ginger and scallions), a relief from the meaty, battered and fried carioca diet. Read more.
Authentic açaí! Here, the Amazonian berry is turned into a smooth, cold, creamy, purple velvet slush. It’s matched only by the real stuff served a country away in the Amazon. Read more.
Try dishes like the white fish surubim from Pará state, the border area between Brazil’s north and Amazon region, and the very popular namorado (boyfriend), which comes from tropical saltwater regions Read more.
Try Velhas Virgins, an extra-light witbier from São Paulo, with Gracioso’s top-notch bolinhos. The croquete gracioso is like a bolinho but made of corn and is filled with white cheese and shrimp. Read more.
Our top beer choices are Colorado’s Vixnu, a flavorful IPA heavy on the hops (lúpulo) and, for a novelty Brazilian option, the Göttlich Duvival, brewed with guaraná, the powerful red Amazonian berry. Read more.
Heaping platters of polvo grelhado (grilled squid), arroz com brócolis (rice with broccoli), and risottos. One plate can easily feed 3 for lunch.
For vegetarians, the jiló do Claude consists of thin slices of the vegetable brushed with a tangy balsamic dressing, to which pink peppercorns, honey and a side of goat cheese are added. Read more.
