Head chef of celebrated contemporary restaurant Laguiole recommends the best morsels and tidbits to be had in Rio
The dictionary definition of delicacy may be ¨delicious, made with great care¨ but in Rio it means a generous portion of hearty food filled with flavour (and calories!). This is the criteria for the small dishes of food that have brought fame to many eateries around Rio whether traditional recipes or modern innovations. For Elia Schramm, the talented young chef that heads up Languiole’s kitchen, petiscos, or appetizers, convey the laid-back carioca spirit. Well known for his revisions of classic French cooking techniques, he is a big fan of the city’s gastronomic heritage and provides here his own official rundown of the best spots around town to grab a tasty nibble.
Bolinho de Feijoada (Feijoda Balls) Aconchego Carioca
The classics will always be appreciated and from Praça da Bandeira, Aconchego Carioca’s Katia Barbosa has gone on to achieve world fame, featuring in just about every gastronomic guide to Rio de Janeiro. And rightly so. The simple bolinho, light and crispy on the outside and filled with blackbeans bacon and kale, has turned the traditional Brazilian favourite feijoada into a bitesized delight. The portion comes with pork crackling and lime juice. After requests to open an offering in Zona Sul, the eatery opened its branch one in Leblon this year.
As Aconchego Carioca has grown in size and success, so too has the time spent queuing just to get a table inside. But the solution to this problem has come with the arrival of the Bar da Frente which has transformed waiting for a table into an attraction in itself. Schramm recommends the Porquinho de Quimono (R$26 – 6 pieces) winner of the 2014 Comida di Buteco competition. It is a spring roll filled with smoked pork ribs and a sweet and sour sauce (comer de joelhos)” Schramm explains.
A carioca taverna where images of Saint George hang on the wall, samba music plays and a top-class kitchen serves the classics of Brazilian cuisine. One expects no less from a carioca establishment especially one called “Da Gema” (which loosely translates as “Carioca to the core”) headed up by Leandro Amaral and Luiza Souza in Tijuca. Among the savoury delights is Schramm’s highlight, the polentinha frita com rabada: 12 little squares of fried polenta accompanied by tasty oxtail meat (R$18).
As a restaurant that specializes in steak (and what amazing steak it is!) it may come as a surprise that one of the most tantalizing things on the menu is the octopus and grana padano cheese straws (9 pieces for R$28). “Accompanying it with a bit of grilled sausage makes it even better” Schramm advises in order to make this family-owned restaurant’s star dish even more delicious.
Schedule:
Sun 12:00 às 23:00, Mon 12:00 às 16:00, Mon 19:00 às 00:00, Tue 12:00 às 16:00, Tue 19:00 às 00:00, Wed 12:00 às 16:00, Wed 19:00 às 00:00, Thu 12:00 às 16:00, Thu 19:00 às 00:00, Fri 12:00 às 01:00, Sat 12:00 às 01:00
“It was Marcelo Torres, a restauranteur behind some of the best restaurants in the city that introduced me to this one” Schramm explains as he tells us how he discovered this delicious Brazilian relative of the pot pie in one of Copacabana’s most classic eateries. This one you can enjoy stood by the bar or even take it back home with you. Be careful though, as is custom, hidden within the tasty shrimp filling is an unpitted olive. There is even a sign in the restaurant to alert you just in case you don’t heed our warning.
