Brazil Churrascaria If you are a meat-lover, where can you bring your vegetarian friend for dinner where both of you can enjoy your meals? Unthinkable, right? Just head down to Brazil Churrascaria, located at Sixth Avenue, and you can have the best of both worlds. We've always thought that this place only serves meat and to our pleasant surprise, the salad bar is a treat to vegetarians--both cooked and raw, hot and cold vegetables spread across a huge counter. The salad bar is good as a meal on its own or it can be a starter to your main meal. Though we rave about the salad bar, the star of this restaurant is still the meat that it serves.
Churrascaria is Portuguese for barbecue. All the meat are marinated in special recipes and cooked over a griller. You would love this place if you are a meat lover as you get a variety of 12 different cuts of meat, all tasty and tender. But just a word of caution, you should forget about all the fats and calories when you eat here. How can meat possibly taste good without some fats in it? It's the fats that give the succulent bite to any piece of meat. Your meat experience starts with the end of your salad. A friendly Passador (meat waiter) will come to your table with a large skewer of one type of meat and starts slicing pieces onto your plate with a sharp knife. While you're finishing it, another skewer will appear at your table with another type of meat. This continues for the rest of the night until your stomach surrenders and refuses to eat anymore. Our favourite is the chicken breast wrapped in bacon. With a light charboiled taste, the fatty bits from the bacon complement the breast meat by giving it a more succulent bite. We have a few servings of the beef hump which is well grilled and yet tender. Similarly for the beef topside, which is medium on the outside and rare on the inside. If you don't have a liking for garlic, you may choose to pass the garlic T-bone that is generously dipped in garlic.
The pork sausage is made in their own kitchen and is a welcomed change to the different beef cuts. Interestingly, the little barbecued chicken hearts are nice and crunchy. Besides meat, seabass and salmon are also served. The seabass is a little fishy when barbecued while the salmon with lemon is nicely grilled. We get interval breaks from all the meat and fish with refreshingly juicy grilled pineapple. This is something that we keep asking for as the acidic pineapple slices seem to prepare the stomach for the next piece of meat. The favourite Brazilian drink of caipirinha goes well with the meal. It tastes like a stronger and smoother version of margarita but is actually Brazilian sugar cane liquor. Order the drink with lime or lemon. The strawberry and kiwi versions just don't blend so well with it. If you have not overeaten by now, you can try the popular fresh mango or banana fritter served with ice cream. Most diners choose the fresh mango as a healthier end to a meaty meal. Opened since 1994, Brazil Churrascaria has a steady stream of customers even on a quiet Monday. For weekends, make sure you make your reservations way in advance.
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