The best restaurants Rio De Janeiro

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 Noisy, messy, outdated decoration...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.

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.

Its bolinhos of bacalhau (cod balls) are ranked among the best in Rio; to be enjoyed with a draught beer, it is one of the Cariocas' favorite appetizers. Portuguese origins are still very present (discover bacalhau a patuscada for example or bacalhau spiritual). You can also choose a very good grilled octopus with red pepper. The dishes vary throughout the week and can be delivered. The wine list offers excellent Lusitanian wines. Very popular in the neighbourhood.

A place not to be missed on Lapa nights. The Nova Capela is an institution of the district and a symbol of its rebirth. This tavern, more than a hundred years old, is a popular meeting place for musicians, artists and journalists. Its style is so old school that, for many, it becomes deliciously trendy. It offers iced beers, snacks and a very relaxed atmosphere. You can also taste meats that are rarely found in Rio, such as goat or wild boar! A classic of the neighborhood's gastronomic scene.

Satyricon is considered the temple of fish lovers in Rio. Without a doubt, it is the best place to enjoy Mediterranean sea food. You can enjoy prawns, oysters, scampi, lobsters, with a little Italian touch (the seafood pasta is a must try). The misto de crustáceos, a selection of the best seafood, allows you to appreciate the diversity of the offer. The atmosphere is subdued, the service is refined, and everything is there to spend a pleasant moment with your partner. There is an annex of the satyricon in Buzios.

The botequins are essential places of the carioca culture. The boteco Belmonte, on Atlantica avenue, in front of the famous "orla" is a classic, a bistro that dates back to 1952, the first of the Belmonte botequins chain, which has since spread throughout Rio (7 addresses in total, in Leblon, Ipanema, Lapa...). The waiters are always friendly and the debates around soccer are going well! Everything is good on the menu! The pepper steak is delicately spiced and the shrimp moqueca is really copious as well as the salgados of different flavors.

In a large house at the end of a quiet little street in Botafogo, the Botequim restaurant has been open since 1979. The architecture of the restaurant is very pleasant, the establishment is divided into several rooms, a patio, a mezzanine, one eats good Brazilian cuisine or an honest pizza while watching the waiters going up and down the many stairs. The menu consists of many meat and fish dishes, but the Botequim offers a vegan moqueca and vegetarian ricotta ravioli. Good value for money

The Rio Minho is a river that originates in Portugal and flows into the ocean in Spain. As you can see, this restaurant is inspired by Portuguese and Spanish cuisine. It is an excellent fish restaurant, open since 1884, which makes it the oldest restaurant in the city of Rio still in "activity" and a meeting place for some personalities, such as the Baron of Rio Branco! To try: the leão velloso soup, a tropical adaptation of our bouillabaisse!

It is difficult not to fall under the charm of this blue house with pink shutters: oriental decor, candlelit, soft music. You go barefoot and sit on the floor, on Persian cushions and carpets. The dishes are a clever mix between western and oriental cuisine: grilled tuna with oyster and passion fruit sauce, grouper with white butter flavoured with curry and basil, Moroccan couscous with vegetables and fruit, duck with jabuticaba sauce... The visual aspect of the plates is very sought after and sophisticated. High prices..

In the lively Centro district during the day, Cais do Oriente seems to merge the industrial architecture of the past with that of modern establishments. Housed in a superb ^19th-century building, the restaurant boasts a magnificent indoor terrace where you can enjoy a leisurely stroll. Here, you can enjoy modern Brazilian cuisine of the highest quality, blended with oriental, Mediterranean and Asian influences. The bar is always busy during Friday and Saturday night concerts. A must for Carioca gastronomy, right in the heart of the city's cultural square.

A sure bet in Santa Teresa. A stone's throw from the largo de Guimaraes, near the tracks of the famous yellow "bondinho", the Sobrenatural is a pleasant fish restaurant: everything is good, in a very pleasant "marine" decor. For starters, try the delicious casquinhas de siris, excellent and aromatic. You can also try pasteis de caranguejo and delicious moquequas, including cod and coconut milk. Musicians frequently perform at ao vivo in the evenings. The only complaint is that the bill is a little too steep.

Part bar, part restaurant, this little establishment with its white-tiled walls has a charm that appeals to tourists and locals alike. People come here for the daily special at lunchtime, as well as for the black bean, kale and dried meat fritters, or the more traditional tomato, cheese and herb fritters, which you can nibble on with friends. Excellent and very hearty feijoada too. It's also one of the best caipi in Rio, according to our friend Fred. It doesn't take long to get into the soul of Santa Teresa, chatting with your neighbor. An institution with a local soul.

Between bar and restaurant, we really don't go for the decor. The address goes from mouth to mouth, and is already well known because you often have to queue on Saturdays. Fifteen options and three sizes: 1 200 g (4 people), 600 g (2 people) and 300 g (individual). A suggestion of Prussian filet with cheese, garlic, fried onions, eggs, rice and black beans is proposed. The best place to eat meat in the neighborhood watching the TV, with a volume often so low that you will not have a problem.

One of the most popular restaurants in Rio for over forty years. The favorite place of the Cariocas, especially on Sunday noon, a time when it is sometimes difficult to find a place. The menu, made up of different breads, with sausage, pâté and raw vegetables, is a festival before the meal. The most popular dish is the medallion à la piémontaise, and, like all the other dishes, it is more than enough for two people. A very good choice of salads, including the chef's salad, which you choose yourself by assembling eight different ingredients.

for its cuisine with Cariocas, German and Japanese influences. Very beautiful Art Deco architecture. Won your, grilled squid, shitake, nira… Japanese flavours are served with a subtle Brazilian touch. Desserts are not forgotten from the place. One of the refined squares of beautiful Ipanema.

Julieta Restaurante is located in a beautiful French neoclassical style house dedicated to arts and culture, located on the beach in Flamengo. The Golden Room offers an extraordinary tea that can easily be substituted for a meal. For lunch or dinner, the Julieta restaurant offers a top-notch menu. The décor is as incredible as the plate, with white tablecloths and candelabras on the tables and floor-to-ceiling gilding. At lunchtime, Julieta restaurant offers a starter-main course or main course-dessert menu for R$ 80.

Another small address that Santa Teresa has the secret. On this side of Santa Teresa, it might seem difficult to find a good restaurant. On the Largo das Neves, so nice and pleasant, the Goya Beira is the best address to taste some popular Brazilian dishes without pretention, but also to drink beers on the terrace, while enjoying the animations of this small square of district. This establishment is one of the simple and authentic places that you like to meet the guests and the people who work.

The Café do Alto is located in the heart of Santa Teresa. This beautiful establishment blends very well with the bohemian atmosphere of the neighborhood where musicians frequently perform. We recommend the Nordestin breakfast. The establishment offers homemade beers that can be tasted on draught or bottled. The Alto favours local productions. On the menu are specialties from the Brazilian Northeast, salads, vegetarian dishes... without forgetting the inevitable caipirinha. A place where it is good to stroll.

"Chez Claude" is one of the latest restaurants to be opened by Claude Troisgros, the French chef in vogue in the Carioca capital, already responsible for the Olympe, CT Boucherie, CT Brasserie and Leblon establishments. You can dine almost in the kitchen, and watch him at work behind the stove. This is haute gastronomy from the kitchen of the chef from Roanne! For discerning palates and gourmets. You can eat in the restaurant or try the "Mesa do lado", a gastronomic adventure. Quality at the price of quality.

In the Cinelandia neighborhood, this brewery, founded in 1921, is a historical place in the neighborhood and a place of resistance...that almost disappeared. The interior is very simple and very carioca. Busy employees and tourists mingle in a very local atmosphere. The large terrace of the "little yellow one", on the Praça Floriano, is particularly pleasant to stroll in the evening, with a mug in the hand. The waiters are busy serving the many customers. On the menu, traditional dishes: feijoada, picanhas, churrascos... A classic.

Another little place to discover in the charming district of Santa Teresa. This canteen doesn't look like much, but it offers excellent (and copious!) dishes of various meats, churrasco of course, picanhas, ribeye, chops... the choice is vast. Everything is often accompanied by chips, rice and black beans (feijão). A good option for a typical weekday lunch. Ah yes, you will have understood, we are here in gaucha land, far from the new cuisine. One dish can easily satisfy two people, so let's hear it...

Rio has begun to regain its centre. Some of the once malfamous districts are dressing up in their finest finery and offering visitors that little bit of extra soul that internationalized areas no longer always provide. The botequim do Joia is one of these places steeped in history. This small bar on the outskirts of the Saúde district is a listed establishment that opened its doors in 1909. Also known as Bar do Jóia, it is famous for its iced beer, dry meat dishes and Friday feijoada. A place to discover.

We're still in Rio, but you'd think we were near the metropolis... or somewhere in Italy, because the food is so tasty. The chef is a true Transalpine. The Casa Due restaurant offers dishes from Lazio, southern Italy and seafood. The setting is superb and the dishes are certainly worthy of the place. The pasta is excellent, the atmosphere friendly and the setting simple and bucolic. The checkered tablecloths give the place a kitschy family feel... and that's what we like! A must-try!

This Lebanese restaurant in the port district is a good address for all lovers of oriental cuisine. The French-speaking owner has succeeded in maintaining the traditional aspect of this restaurant, which offers the full range of Lebanese and Oriental dishes, as well as Arabic cuisine in general. He has happily carried on the family tradition, his father having opened his first restaurant in Lapa in 1967. Moufid Hassan perpetuates the tradition of designing an interesting cuisine featuring combination dishes for one or two people (kibés, falafels, taboulés...).

The Jobi bar has been a very popular address in the Cariocas since 1956... Its red and green front and the red and white checkered tablecloths are part of the "landscape" of the traditional botequins of Rio. The Jobi is the link between the Rio of yesterday and today. The bohemian spirit lives on in a friendly atmosphere. The wait is sometimes a little long, but the cod croquettes and seafood soup are worth the trip. People also come here for the iced beer, the best in Rio for some "fans".

Since 2002, the Balada Mix chain has opened more than 20 shops in Rio de Janeiro. The one in Ipanema is one of the most pleasant. In a beautiful white house, one block from Ipanema beach, you can enjoy a mango or acai juice or a more substantial dish in a pleasant and calm setting, ideal before or after the orla... or afterwards. The cuisine is simple and healthy at the same time. This is the general trend at Ipanema, but here the combination of location, service and value for money certainly makes it a place to get to know.

Opposite the São Bento monastery, which gave it its name(mosteiro means monastery in Portuguese), this Portuguese-inspired restaurant, run by José Temporao, has been offering excellent fish dishes (including the delicious Mosteiro cod) or shellfish (octopus in saffron rice) for almost half a century. There are of course the famous Portuguese pasteis. The quality of the cuisine and service is rightly recognised by many food critics and even more guests.

In a small shop with "tangy candy" colours and a decoration that the owners describe as "rustic-provençal", the good smell of the well-prepared small dishes inevitably captures the passing gourmets or regulars of the place. Salmon tartar, warm brie with apricots on toast, or simply melons with ham. There is a choice between simplicity and slightly more sophisticated dishes. A "Santa Fit" menu has been elaborated by chef Carol Figueiredo for those who want to eat healthy and light.

A casual Resto-pizzeria attended mainly by a gay clientele. You can enjoy a beer or a caipirinha while admiring the beach. 

Good Japanese cuisine is offered in this small restaurant. Lovers of Japanese cuisine will have the opportunity to eat by the kilo here. There is a great variety of yakisoba, teppanyaki, temaki, also proposed in the original form of rodizio, where the waiters pass by constantly presenting dishes. Gourmets of Japanese cuisine will find here interesting products for a good quality/price ratio. It is also possible to get delivery in the entire southern area (up to 73 pieces for combination dishes!).

The Pérgula is one of the three restaurants located in the wonderful Belmond Copacabana Palace. The majesty of the place and the quality of the food will perhaps justify that you break your piggy bank to be able to enjoy a breakfast or a lunch buffet in this mythical place. If there is an undeniable Italian touch, the cuisine can be described as international. From the "copperto", the tone is set: chestnut bread, cassava chips, artichoke pickle... Meat, fish, vegetarian dishes. Everything is delicate. At the weekend, it's feijoada and brunch!

Originally from São Paulo, the other pizza capital of the world, Pizzaria Bráz is one of the best in Rio. In this traditional setting in the Jardim Botânico district, the great Italian classics are the basis of the menu, but many variations are offered, from the classic award-winning caprese to the basic Neapolitan... or theimigrante. The wine list allows to highlight the flavours of the place. For dessert, the traditional panettone and tiramisus will satisfy the specialists.

For 3 years now, this former store founded in 1854 has been transformed, much to the delight of the bohemian Santa Teresa district, into a bar and pousada that has quickly made a name for itself in the sun. The traditional coverings have been preserved, and the mix of old and new has been perfectly adapted to the spirit of the place. Modern cocktails alternate with traditional cooked dishes or beautifully crafted caipirinhas. The "spirit of Santa Teresa" is guaranteed, with good ao vivo music on certain evenings.

The Tropicana restaurant is a small tropical paradise surrounded by forest and mangroves, just a stone's throw from the beach. In a simple atmosphere, under the vast wooden canopies, seafood and fish dishes grace the vast tables around which delighted diners gather. The menu is rich (including the famous peixada, for which people come from all over Rio, and grouper moqueca ) and the dishes are generously served. You don't always have the strength to order dessert. The service is very professional and pleasant.

The Catete Grill is the annex of the Arvel-voyage groups. Well located, close to the Catete metro station. It is an excellent restaurant by the kilo, certainly the best in the area. The buffet is varied and of good quality (salads, hot dishes, grilled meats...). If there is some space left, try the desserts. You can find sushi as well as "minute" cooked meats, lobster, raw vegetables. To be recommended for those who are very hungry at lunchtime! Like all popular restaurants, it's a bit noisy and full. An address to which you often return

As the name suggests, Giuseppe Grill is dedicated to meat. For many Cariocas and gastronomic guides, this establishment is one of the best meat restaurants in Rio, coming straight from Argentina, a guarantee of quality if ever there was one. The setting is warm and the décor features works by contemporary Carioca painters, all of them representing... a bull. Of course! The maminha is tender and tasty. The wine list is varied and good, especially for the wines... Argentine. Seafood too.

One of the main interests of the restaurant La Plancha, one of the best fish restaurants in Rio, is its location in the heart of the Mercado do Produtor, the largest fish market in the city. This guarantees the freshness of the products that are served. At the buffet, you will find grilled fish and seafood (lobsters, shrimps...), which can be shared with others. The service is well trained and professional. Not top for a plan in love: the place is vast (250 seats) and too noisy!

Le Térèze is the restaurant of the magnificent Hotel Santa Teresa, now McGallery, in the eponymous district, one of the most beautiful establishments in the city of Rio. The menu, signed by chef Esteban Mateu, is of contemporary inspiration and high quality, and the use of "unconventional plants" is surprising. The wine list (particularly Chilean) is full of surprises. Thursday dinner: tasting menu (with wine). Excellent breakfast too, available daily to non-guests. Prices are reasonable.

At the foot of the Tulip Inn Hotel, the Branch is one of the few restaurants on the mythical Avenida Atlântica, which instead makes the beautiful part of the second zone or the pizzerias without flavor. In a modern and sober decor, the map, contemporary and international, offers delicious shrimp salad with artichokes and vanilla sauce or an amazing piece of beef, pie at the cresson and polenta. 

This is without a doubt the best Asian restaurant in Rio, quite simply. In a warm and wooded decor, Nam Thai gives pride of place to Thai dishes, not hesitating to spice up some of them to give them almost the original flavour of the kingdom of Siam. Some dishes are unavoidable: the Nuea Massaman (beef strips, coconut sauce, almonds and curry of aniseed and cinnamon, very spicy!), or the Pad Pong Garee (shrimps, ginger, sweet peppers and Indian curry). Try it with your eyes closed!

In the very pleasant and cosy setting of Parc Lage, this establishment is making a name for itself in Rio, and rightly so. Le Plage Café serves good-quality breakfasts, lunches and dinners. A comprehensive menu offers both light dishes, salads and sandwiches, as well as a choice of hearty dishes. Delicious coffee and jazzy background music. An enchanting place to start the day, but also to end it, as the menu offers a good choice of cocktails, to be consumed in moderation, and well-crafted tapas.

For a few years now, this store of Amazonian culinary specialties has brought the flavors of Pará to Rio de Janeiro and seduced the demanding Cariocas. It must be said that the virtues and flavors of the acai, an Amazonian berry, are now known far beyond the borders of Pará. The Tacacà do Norte store is entirely dedicated toaçai na tigela, (açai ice cream). The neighboring store Tacacà do Norte Gourmet, offers typical Amazonian dishes, such as the eponymous tacacà or the vatapa, a shrimp soup. A change of scenery guaranteed!

Giuseppe Mar is a restaurant in Barra's Village Mall, dedicated entirely to seafood. The restaurant's trademark is a display case filled with ice, fish and seafood brought in daily by the teams of divers and fishermen. Depending on the day's arrivals, guests can choose from grouper, whiting or sea bass for their dishes. The prices are high but the menu, very well prepared, will certainly justify exceeding the budget.