After such a bloody long break, it’s hard to decide what to
write about as it should be something that would justify the prolonged silence.
My last post was hardly even a proper one – promise I’ll try harder. It is just
that since coming back from Brazil (2 years ago!), nothing has impressed
me so much as to make me want to write about it. I’m not saying all Brazilian
things are better back there, but many of them are and no matter how hard we
try, what we get here in London is only a substitute. Take Brazilian food. No
bar or restaurant run by Brazilians themselves on the ‘terra da rainha’ (= the
land of Queen Elizabeth, as they often call the UK) can compare with churrascarias* across the Atlantic. Although there is one that tries very hard.
Being Brazilian, my BF gets meat cravings from time to time (ok, let’s not be
diplomatic – often!) and it’s not enough to fry up a mountain of steaks; he
wants real meat. By real he means
proper Brazilian beef, prepared in a traditional way. I’m a meat-lover myself
and I remember that what I had back in Brazil did not resemble the stiff, dry
shoe-sole British beef usually becomes when you try to fry or roast it. No, no, no. Brazilian meat literally melted
in my mouth, inundating my taste buds with a flood of luscious meat juices
mixed with delectably sizzled fat. I am so getting hungry just thinking about
it.
Anyway, pra matar a saudade** of the ‘real meat’, we
go to Rodizio Preto. There are a few in London, but we’ve been to the one in
Shaftsbury Avenue, several times now. I’m not going to start praising them to
the stars, but those guys know their business. The buffet offers an impressive
choice of fresh salads, rice, beans, even feijoada***
itself. You could easily just eat the buffet food and be happy, but, frankly,
that would be plain foolish. The meats that the waiters serve come in good quality
and quantity – basically every few minutes someone turns up next to your table
with another juicy cut. And the best thing is, you can actually ask them to
bring you what you want. Picanha,
maminha, lombo, costela de carneiro**** - they serve up to 15 different
kinds of meat!
I always finish off with corações
de frango*****. I’ve
loved them ever since I tried them at another Brazilian churrascaria in London years ago; soft, yet crispy, with plenty of flavour.
There are, of course, plenty other venues where you can have
meats served in the traditional Brazilian way, but choose wisely. You choices
will, in most cases, be limited to the following: the wrong kind of meat, meat
left to roast forever until it becomes dry, meat served every half an hour at
best (apparently Rodizio Rico have a policy of purposely not serving meat too
often…), poor choice at the buffet, unfriendly waiters. Been there, done that.
I stick to Rodizio Preto. £19.90 may seem like a lot, but when you compare it
with just about any main course at a good London restaurant, you’ll understand
that you’ll be better off paying a few quid more for the ability to sink your
teeth into prime beef (and other meats) WITHOUT limit. And if anyone from the
restaurant happens to be reading this, please sponsor me :D. Rsrsrsrsrrsrsss…******
Source: Groupon
*restaurants serving freshly prepared meat without limit
** an idiom literally meaning ‘to kill the longing’; so when
you miss something or someone, you will try to ‘matar a saudade’ by doing that
thing or being with that person, if that makes sense…
*** you will find an explanation here: http://thebraziliandream.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/reality-bites.html
****different kinds of meat, will explain in a separate post
*****chicken hearts
******a Brazilian equivalent of ‘hahahaha’ in written slang
(consider the fact that initial ‘r’ is pronounced almost as the /h/ sound and
you’ll understand)
