The best restaurants Brazil

The Trattoria restaurant is perhaps one of the best value for money establishments in the city. In a slightly retro atmosphere (checkered tablecloths), with brick walls a few steps from the Copacabana Palace, a Turinese chef and her family have been cooking since 1976. You'd expect to see mafia-style chefs at the table. Pasta, of course, has pride of place and is available in both land and sea versions. The Neapolitan shrimps are a real delight. A good canteen, with your eyes closed, for sure.

Naia the Bahianese fell in love with this place and wanted to merge her passions here, the Bahianese cuisine and the village of Barra Grande. She was right to do so. At the beginning, the establishment was a simple and rustic bar and restaurant, but over the years, La Tapera has become the most refined restaurant in Barra Grande. The dishes are prepared with all of Naia's "Bahian cooking science" and her love for local seafood ingredients. It has that little extra soul. Quite good value for money.

A great classic of French gastronomy in Salvador. "Monsieur Bernard" Goethals set foot in Bahia in 1963 and since then, this very good restaurant has delighted gourmets. Today, another French chef, Laurent Rezette, is at the piano and offers the classics of French cuisine to Soteropolitans. Lamb with port is one of the chef's specialties, and he also prepares dishes mixing French cuisine with local ingredients. The quality remains impeccable and the restaurant is a reference in Salvador.

This former ^17th-century house is certainly a romantic restaurant. Casa da Gamboa specializes in seafood. We'd particularly recommend the tasty moqueca de camarão(they must have something the others don't...), but the menu offers many other interesting dishes. One of the specialties for which diners come from all over the region is undoubtedly the lobster. One of the unmistakable flavors of the house is undoubtedly the quality of the service, the attentiveness and the smile of the team.

The Vermelho Grill is an establishment with a very rustic decoration all in wood, which maintains the "fazenda" atmosphere. The motto of the house is "Passion for meat"... and nothing could be more true! Opposite the park of the indigenous nations, this meat restaurant proposes in a seductive decoration all in wood, T.bones, filets mignons of 500 g, salads. Meat lovers will appreciate it. A little expensive, but the customers come back, which is a good sign. The atmosphere is always pleasant. Impressive wine cellar.

The Cuco Bistrô restaurant has been a real success for 10 years and is always full. Just a stone's throw from the São Francisco church, Cuco Bistrô serves fine regional cuisine. The menu features grilled quail with rice, farofa of bananas and aipim purée, or a delicious fillet of beef with red wine sauce. Try the delicious coffee caipirinha. The restaurant's Nordeste-themed decor blends with a cheerful atmosphere. The welcome is warm. An excellent address in Salvador.

Mar & sol is a restaurant now established as a benchmark on the island. It is reached on foot from the das conchas lighthouse. The place is simple and pleasant. The menu is quite varied, but the main attraction is the fish specialties, especially the moquecas, and the seafood, especially the casquinha de siri. The moqueca de camarao, as good as in Bahia, is more than enough for two guests. During the high season, the Mar & Sol is a victim of its own success, and you sometimes have to wait a little before being served. Expensive but good.

The most famous of the city's churrascarias is also the most touristy. We come to see a kitsch but very Brazilian show: groups of Latin American singers and dancers follow one another during the dinner-show. The service is well run. The plate delights the palate: you can choose between 12 meats, 8 typical hot dishes, salads, 10 desserts, ice-cream... grilled picanha with peppers, onions ideally spiced. The foams are excellent. On the other hand, in this room of 3,000 people, all groups travelling to Iguaçu disembark.

Located 100 m from Tiradentes Square, the restaurant operates in the old slave quarters (the senzala, usually located below the master quarters) of an old house from 1772. On the walls hangs a lot of old objects. The restaurant offers a gargantuan buffet for lunch and a very good choice of regional dishes a la carte (feijao tropeiro, chicken ora pro nobis, tutu mineiro). A good address.

Some asked for bread and games. Here, everything is in the name: wine and pizza! In a simple yet cosy white setting, behind open-air fences, guests can enjoy Italian dishes and pizzas worthy of the best restaurants in São Paulo. The latter, prepared with care and using fresh and tasty products, are available in some twenty recipes. Other dishes are on the menu, served with wine by the bottle, which the owner - who speaks French - will help you select.

This "churrascaria" offers the classic formula of restaurants of this kind: the buffet of starters (plentiful and all you can eat) is followed by a rodízio (merry-go-round) of grilled meats served on their spits by twirling waiters. All you can eat... We recommend not overdoing the starters and reserving the meats, the most noble pieces being served last... Recommended for carnivores with a big appetite. You can enjoy the breeze on the terrace to appreciate the quietness of Salvador de Bahia.

For almost 40 years, the Casa do Ouvidor has been located on the "rua direita". In the heart of Ouro Preto, on the first floor of a beautiful building on Direita Street that the owners have completely rebuilt, the elegant house offers a menu with typical dishes (tutu and feijao tropeiro, for two) and other pleasures that are as tasty as they are substantial (filet à la mode de la maison, chicken risotto...) The interior is very cosy. One of the best tables in town! The service is as good as the place.

Aipo and Aipim is a chain of restaurants by the kilo with a wide variety of dishes, salads, meats, dishes cooked in sauce, very Brazilian dishes, aipo means celery and aipim, also called mandioca, is a kind of tuber of the potato family, very common in South America. In short, they are a bit like Brazilian fries. It is the opportunity to taste a Brazilian cuisine by the kilo, of quality... at prices of the southern zone. Two other addresses on Nossa Senhora avenue, at n° 391 and 920.

The Cipriani is the main restaurant of the Belmond Copacabana Palace. The service is of impeccable class and taste. It overlooks the patio and the pool, in a setting with a taste of paradise. The cuisine is tinged with a northern Italian influence: Chef Carli used to run the kitchens at the Cipriani Hotel in Venice. Try the thinly sliced lamb with goat cheese ravioli and Dijon mustard tarts! You can reserve the chef's table in the heart of the kitchen (990 reais), a must... expensive!

Well, actually, not one, but several restaurants offer their services at the foot of the lighthouse in the eponymous Barra district. It's not necessarily sophisticated cuisine, but you can eat and drink in a pleasant seaside setting, cooler on hot Bahian summer days. Bahian specialties, croque-monsieur, salads, beef or chicken strogonoff or more simply fruit juice, cold beer or caipirinha, you can drop in for lunch or dinner. The place is an interesting alternative to the pelourinho.

A good address found thanks to our friend Nicolas. In the increasingly popular Botafogo district, Lima is a fusion of Peruvian and world cuisine. Of course, you'll find the traditional ceviches here, but also many seafood dishes (octopus and shrimps with yellow garlic...). Some may regret the old location, more "authentic" and family-friendly, while the new restaurant is flashier, noisier and more "in". The menu, however, remains up to scratch.

The adventure begins even before the food is ordered. A small funicular takes customers up to the dining room, with its sophisticated decor and open view of the city of Olinda. The view is superb. The show continues when you read the creative menu and, of course, taste the dishes you've ordered. Caramulu or beijucastanha are some of the establishment's flagship dishes, featuring fish, meat, plants and fruit from the Nordeste region, the basis of the Beijupirà chain's inspiration and DNA. Vegetarian and vegan dishes.

A restaurant by the kilo to get to know. The many dishes on offer are of good quality... and there's something for everyone. The "fingers food" is rather classic (cod croquettes, small hamburgers, curry sausages, cheese croquettes), but always tasty. The choice of salads and main courses is admittedly limited, as are the desserts, but they don't disappoint - quite the contrary. Dishes and drinks can be ordered. A good address.

In the heart of the Pelourinho, the Boteco do Pelourinho offers the classic dishes of the many other Pelourinho restaurants, but eating and/or savoring a caipirinha or a fruit juice while admiring the Sao Francisco church, Salvador's architectural jewel, inevitably adds another dimension to these pleasurable menus. Under the yellow umbrellas, you can try acarajés, moqueca and carne do sol nordestine. There are a few pleasant tables inside if you want to escape the hustle and bustle. Simple and very local. Worth knowing.

Sabor da Serra is an appellation clearly suited to the establishment's services, as the dishes are bursting with flavor and finesse. Nordestin risotto, zucchini fritters with gorgonzola and sweet-and-sour passion fruit sauce are just a few examples from an endless list of dishes to try. Vegetarians and vegans are not forgotten, with these surprisingly tasty cocoa and vegan meat fettuccini, for example. The dishes are generously served and the welcome is extremely friendly and professional!

The Majorica is a very 1960s address, with a decoration so kitsch that it almost becomes chic! Once you set the tone, it's easy to see why the restaurant has been around for decades. The menu is classic and of high quality. The Majorica offers excellent meats on the menu ( picanha lovers will appreciate the local picanha, which is excellent!) and a grilled sausage to ask for as an aperitif. The fish and seafood with notably several cod recipes (bacalhau). Well stocked wine list. A classic.

Mizu is a Mexican-Japanese restaurant, so it had to be daring! And yet, the gamble paid off. The formula works perfectly. You can eat as much as you like, starting with Mexican cuisine (nachos, burritos, tostadas, ceviche, etc.) and ending with Japanese fish (sushi, sashimi, etc.). Some dishes are served in seats imitating boats. Well, the setting is a bit faded nonetheless, but it's definitely worth the detour if you're a fan of either cuisine.

Once a real gastronomic complex, this establishment (which has nothing to do with Garcia & Rodrigues, the founders) has become a very good bistro. Delicious breakfasts, sandwiches, and high-end bakery. On the map, pasta, risottos, steaks, fish (succulent toasted salmon).

We enter the world of pastry. For 45 years, the colher de pau has excelled in homemade sweets, including the famous brigadeiro (chocolate and condensed milk) and the excellent rocambole de chocolate, which can be foundas a specialty in Tiradentes. The pies come in a thousand varieties: strawberry charlotte, passion fruit, lemon and walnut pies. The salted cakes like pasteis are also very good. Of course, there is a large number of wooden spoons from all over the world (colher de pau) sent by friends from all over the world as decoration.

One of the annexes of this famous restaurant, which offers buffets for a fixed price. The dishes are excellent. Prices are not quite soft.

This small restaurant with terrace is a little more expensive than the rest of the neighborhood. The products are selected and excellent, the atmosphere is refined, even chic, and it is not because we are on holiday that we will boycott the sophisticated places.

If you want to eat a quick and very good thing in the center of Ipanema, after the beach or during your shopping, take a break at Mustafá. It is simple, but the service is good. Only three tables on the terrace. Tabbouleh salad, stuffed grape leaves with rice, pumpkins, aubergines and stuffed peppers, rice with lentils. Fried kibes, spinach or cheese have left us a good memory. If you still have a little hunger, there are chocolate pies, coconuts, or orange rocamboles.

One of the fashionable restaurants, trendy New York bistro, even though the kitchen remains typically Brazilian. Meat is valued, including a succulent mignon net, or seafood: excellent shrimp bisque. On dessert, we cracked for the fennel conflict. To discover.

Here of course, as its name suggests, we enter a place dedicated to Italian gastronomy. Open since 1999, this Italian establishment enjoys an excellent reputation. We go there to taste a fabulous roast duck and an excellent lamb chop. The grilled wild boar will also convert all those who are hostile to game. On the sea side, the Grigliata Mista Di Mare for two people is a pure pleasure (395 reals all the same). Impressive wine list. Top-of-the-range service. A gastronomic evening in Leme is guaranteed!

You have to imagine Lapa in its normal functioning to understand the "dimension" of the Brasil bar. This bar is a part of the tradition of the old Lapa district which transpires its popular origins... We are far from the rhinestones and glitter of the chic bars of Rio. Noisy, messy, outdated decoration... but we love it! The walls reflect so many counter stories that you have to stick to them. Good German food goes well with a cold beer (or vice versa). You can find its program on www.lanalapa.com.br

In 1989, a Swiss doctor had the idea to open a "bistro" with a French spirit in the heart of this very pleasant place full of history. Good for her. 3 decades later, the bistro is an institution, with simple and quality cuisine. It is a restaurant that serves huge salads and very good quiches. At lunchtime, on weekdays, it is frequented by the young dynamic executives of Rio's business district - as well as by the staff of the French consulate, whose offices are next door to the Bistro.

Some places allow you to discover the sociology and daily life of the people who pass through them. Traditional places, by definition, are lessons in history, tradition and/or modernity. The Beco das Sardinhas has been a traditional place in Rio since the 1960s, located in a small pedestrian section of Miguel Couto Street. Several small establishments share their terraces and serve excellent grilled sardines (as in Sète or Casablanca) known as frangos marítimos. To be enjoyed with a good draught beer!

A compromise between pastry and fast food. There's a little bit of it in a pretty ugly decor, style 1980. Ideal when you go from the beach to several. Good salads and wide variety of desserts and ice cream.

Picanha do Gugu is a rather tasty churrascaria located in the centre of Saquarema. Well, we know that meat restaurants are less and less popular among Europeans and Brazilians who are more sensitive to the ecological cause, but for those who love meat... and who can nevertheless be sensitized to the Amazonian cause, the restaurant Picanha do Gugu, one of the subsidiaries of the eponymous group, offers good meat. Over several years, however, the price of the picanha has risen. Few non-meat offers.

The city of Itauna offers some interesting tables. La Garota de Itaunà is a large and colourful restaurant. It is a really great beach establishment, simple and friendly, like those found in the Nordeste. Of course, they serve very good fish (grilled fish with Maracujà sauce, Itauna style shrimps), but also tasty meat (churrasco), all in generous portions. The whole is very suitable! Nice view from the balcony. Excellent address also for contemplating the sunset over the sea.

Punto di vino has established itself as a safe bet for Italian cuisine. Pippo, the Italian owner, always manages to find you a small place (prefer the garden, cooler), even when the restaurant seems full (which happens very often). Very good Italian cuisine with Brazilian flavors. Try the carpaccio triplo con rucola, a delight of local products. Excellent pizzas, a little expensive but prepared with good ingredients, Italian style (priceless). In the evening, regular concerts ao vivo, especially on weekends, for the atmosphere.

This popular establishment did not always. You can also come here to drink a coffee or nibble a sandwich, a quiche, a carpaccio.

Not everyone knows it, but Arab culture and Arab cuisine have been very present in Brazil for almost a century, when the first members of the Syrian-Lebanese community arrived in Brazil. The Amir is certainly one of the best Arab restaurants in the city... and it is true that they are not so numerous in Rio. The menu during the week is of Lebanese inspiration (hummus, falafels, esfiha - salted cake - around a very good all-you-can-eat buffet) and the speciality of the weekend is an excellent Moroccan couscous.

Rufino's is a popular traditional Guaruja eatery, offering good fish as well as a curiosity: tamarutaca (lobster) with milk and paprika sauce. This address was opened in the 70s by the eponymous founder, a native of Spain. For almost half a century, the menu has offered the same recipes. Here, the house principle, which the chef makes a point of respecting, is to produce fish dishes...that taste like fish. We accompany these noble products with just a little olive oil and spices.

The smell of rosemary guides the visitor for several hundred metres. Once past the gate, you will discover this large rustic-style house set in a pretty garden. Inside, the atmosphere is hushed and elegant. The menu is very simple and offers local specialities cooked with an Italian influence by the chef Julio Buschinelli. The house osso buco has become famous in Mauá. Try the duck confit with mustard. The production of the garden for vegetables is valued. An experience to discover and increasingly recognized by gastronomes.

The harsh climate of the mountains goes well with a hearty cuisine... but one that would not be any less tasty. Thus, Le Gosto is considered one of the best mineiro restaurants in the region, and it deserves it! Grilled sausages, black bean purée(tutu) and, above all, desserts at will waiting on a small table at the entrance... Also, an impressive menu of cachaças, more than 350 different labels. The owner Monica is always smiling and loves to exchange anecdotes and jokes with the customers.

We leave the Finnish style of Penedo for a moment. In a restaurant with a European-style roof, Fritz, a Swiss who moved here a few years ago, prepares excellent German-style cuisine. The beer is served ice cold and you can eat on the terrace. What more could you want? Anyway, it's always full, which is the best proof of quality. Of course, Fritz's cuisine is not exactly nouvelle cuisine... You would have guessed it.

The Secret Garden is aptly named. It is one of those establishments that you want to keep secret. The chef Fabiano de Almeida officiates in the kitchen of a refined and elegant restaurant, considered one of the best in Penedo. You can try the grilled pirarucu, even if it is not a local fish. It is often recommended. The trout (local) is given pride of place. The menu is contemporary and the wine list is quite extensive. In the evening, candlelight dinners are accompanied by the murmur of the river.

A entorse of the Italian culinary traditions of Bela Vista. Mexilhao is an excellent fish and seafood restaurant, which has proven its know-how for over 40 years. His lobster is particularly tasty.

Specialities from the Amazon region. The amateurs will love the duck in tucupi and the Amazonian fruit sorbets from Belèm.

As its name suggests with a touch of humour (Consulate of Minas Gerais), the Consulado Mineiro is a restaurant specialising in mineira gastronomy. The restaurant offers an excellent feijão tropeiro, but you can also find the classic tutu à la mineira, the quibebe with dried meat, the traingle mineiro -obviously, not recommended for those who don't want to go off their diet or who are vegetarians! The prices have gone up a bit lately, but the food is as good as ever. The cachaça menu is impressive.

Chef Carla Pernambuco (whose family is not Brazilian but Italian, despite her surname) is raising the bar for Brazilian gastronomy, with New York and Italian influences, of course, since she trained in New York and her family is from the country shaped like a boot (near Tricarico). Try the sea bass with mashed banana terra or the bolinhos de carne de sol and manioc for starters. It offers a contemporary and refined cuisine. The menu changes regularly.

The Ritz, which opened in 1981 on Alameda Franca, has a relaxed atmosphere and a retro feel. The decor is by artist Wesley Duke Lee, who also designed the restaurant's logo. It's nestled in a designer industrial warehouse setting with natural light, a garden, red sofas and marble tables. It features the best cheeseburgers in town, as well as asparagus and cured ham penne. Some may say that for sandwiches, it's a bit expensive, but the food is tasty and the setting is neat.

Perhaps the most famous confiteria in São Paulo: Italian flavours and excellent espresso! Varied and delicious small furnaces.