We had to devote an entire post to Sampa's food and drink, it was marvellous. We started each day with a sumptuous breakfasts at P. and M's home, where we were treated to excellent coffee, assorted breads, heavenly bolo de fuba (cake of cornmeal) with erva doce (aniseed), requeijao (Brasilian cream cheese), homemade blackberry jam, pao de quiejo (refer our Ouro Preto post), and fruit.
The city has many Italian and Japanese immigrants. In fact, Sampa has the world's largest Italian population outside Italy. It is no surprise therefore, that pizzerias and sushi places abound. Paulistanas claim that Sampa's pizza is the best in the world, and I would have to agree! I have never eaten better pizza! I suppose I will need to confirm this after our trip to Naples (not yet scheduled). We went to one of Sao Paulo's oldest and most traditional pizzerias in the Italian neighbourhood of Bixiga, where the Famiglia Tarallo has been serving excellent pizzas since 1958. They have up on their walls some kind of certificate from Italy about their margherita pizza vouching for its authenticity.
We also ate excellent Japanese food at the Mercado Municipal. Mercado Municipal is an enormous colonial building built in 1928 that houses a varied selection of fresh produce, spices, wines, prepared foods, and eateries, and basically anything food related. We were introduced to the extremely simple, elegant, yet divine Brasilian dessert - salada de frutas com leite condensado (fruit salad with condensed milk!), for which we made the trip back to Mercado Municipal a second day! At Mercado, we were also introduced to Pasteis, a delicious Brasilian snack/meal made of fried flour and stuffing (either cheese, fish, meat, vegetables, or sweet things like chocolate or guava). We have become great fans of pasteis (what's not to like in fried flour and cheese?!) and keep an eye out for them on our travels.
Thanks to P.'s friend who suggested a vegetarian restaurant close to Ave. Paulista, we got to eat at Vegethus. It's a pay-by-weight/all-you-can-eat-buffet with a huge variety of delicious solely vegan food and desserts. We sampled their vegan pizza, pasta, rice, beans, croquettes, salads, goiaba (guava) flan, maracuja (passionfruit) cake, and other assorted desserts. TFFos took the all-you-can-eat quite literally and was therefore stuffed to the gills for the rest of the day, and could not even eat dinner. Close to P. and M.'s house is a Sampa institution Rancho do Empada, which serves a variety of Lanchonettes (hot snacks!). Here we ate empadas, a baked good that looks like a muffin from the outside, but is actually a cover of dough, with various savoury and sweet stuffings to choose from. Empadas are widely available everywhere we go, as Brasilieros seem fond of their snacks.
Edicificio Italia not only provides a splendid view of Sao Paulo, it also hosts great wine and finger foods. We were introduced to the Brasilian wine Talento, a blend of Cabernet, Merlot, and Tannat (an Uruguayan grape high in tannins). We also ate excellent rucula and brie croquettes - fried appetizers.
P. and M. took us to sample Sao Paulo's best caipirinhas at Veloso and its sister establishment next door. Being Brasil's national cocktail, our expectations were high and we were not disappointed. The traditional caipirinha is made with cachaca (extremely sweet sugarcane liquour), lime, and sugar. Today, caipirinhas come in varied forms - with fruits, or made of vodka, or sake. TFFos's favourite was the traditional, while mine was the one with caju (the red cashew fruit, not to be confused with the nut). Here we also tried the Brasilian staple - mantioca. As an appetizer, it's served fried, like french fries. As a vegetable it's often stewed and eaten with rice. For our South Indian readership, it tastes quite like aritikai, or raw plantain.
A few of our meals were prepared by the wonderful D., including pancakes filled with cheese and vegetables, and a superbly sauce-y lasagna with zucchini. A word on the Brasilian zucchini- it is quite different from the type you get in California, and is extremely flavourful and crunchy, and not watery at all. I am a huge fan!
We will end our food post with a nod to Brigadeiro, Brasil's favourite dessert, usually made for children's birthday parties! It's surprisingly easy to make, but we intend to keep the recipe a secret so that we can dazzle our non Brasilian friends at our dinner parties. :) Let's just say that it is delightfully sweet and chocolatey.
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