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Any specialities/local cuisine or specific restaurants that is recommended by you?

I'll be in Sao Paulo, Rio, Salvador, Buenos Aires, Monte Video and Uruguay. I'm particularly looking for opinions for Salvador.

Argentina...

The meat is good there, if you're not a vegetarian! Bife de Lomo was my favorite - well seasoned. Bife de Chorizo was okay (depends on where you get it, some places are more bland than others). And try the chimichurri sauce as well...very good!

Lots of pizza down there as well. In my opinion, much better than American pizza.

Empanadas (filled pastries, usually meat filled, cheese, etc) are good and can get the really cheap.

Artisan ice cream!!! The *best* ice cream I have ever had in my entire life was in Argentina. In Buenos Aires, it is a bit expensive (Munchis is excellent, but pricey!). If you go to the smaller towns, it's a lot cheaper and still very yummy.

Alfajores -- kind of like cookies with some filling in the middle, usually coated in chocolate or sugar coated. The Havana brand (you can find it at the Florida/LaValle pedestrain malls in Buenos Aires) is expensive, but awesome! Taste a few different flavors if you have a sweet tooth. You can also find cheaper alfajores in the grocery stores.

Dulce de Leche anything is yummy.

I think you'll have enough medialunas (sweet croissants) for your entire lifetime, as it seems that everyone serves them for breakfast and you can find them in any bakery.

The yerba mate (tea) is too strong for me, but well worth the try. I actually liked the mate that the Brazilians from Porto Alegre brought in.

If you want some quiet away from Buenos Aires, take the train down to El Tigre, hop on a boat, and go to a restaurant on the river. After lunch, take a nap in a hammock by the restaurant. Catch the boat back to the mainland in the evening, then the train back to the city (unless you want to spend a night or so there!).

I found the Dulce de Leche poisoniously sweet in Argentina, although I loved the flavour in anything else.

The Argentine ice-cream was to die for. And the chocolate of Patagonia.

In Brazil, you MUST try feijoada and pao de queijo. Those are my favorite dishes. Enjoy!

quote:

Originally posted by LoveTravelling:
Any specialities/local cuisine or specific restaurants that is recommended by you?

I'll be in Sao Paulo, Rio, Salvador, Buenos Aires, Monte Video and Uruguay. I'm particularly looking for opinions for Salvador.

In Buenos Aires do not forget to ask for red wine from MENDOZA to accompany you meat. It is the greatest.

The red wine varietal you'll want to ask for is "Malbec".

If you're going to be in argentina, be adventurous and try the organ meats on the parilla. Just don't ask what they are.

My fav non-steak parilla food is the morcilla (blood sausage)

I'm a huge fan of Brazilian pizza. Not sure what that cheese they put on is called, but it's awesome!

In Brazil go to a 'rodizio' - a cross between a BBQ grill and steak house.

Meat (of all kinds) is brought out freshly grilled on a spit. Waiters stop at each table and cut the meat directly into your plate.

You're provided with a round plastic disk - one side green, the other side red. As long as the green side is up, it means you're still hungry and waiters will stop by your table. When you turn it over and red is showing, it means stop - I'm full.

MEAT, MEAT, & MEAT. It is fabulas in Uruguay and Argentina. You can get a choice of different cuts and sausages from any Parilla (Grill). There is a great one near the produce market in Montevideo. I got a steak that was about two inches thick for around $4. It was so tender that I didn't need a knife.

There are lots of red table wines to help wash it down (and kill the cholesterol) or try a local beer. I can't remeber the name but it is served in one liter bottles. Usually, the a bottle or two is bought for the table to be shared like a bottle of wine.

There is a great little cafe/confectionary in Montevideo called Oro del Rhine - or something like that - and that is where you can get awesome dulce de leche.

Rio - you absolutely have to indulge in the magnificent "kilo buffets" where you pay per kilo from a fantastic selection of fresh food. Also, I suggest you try "queijo" ice cream - this can be found at at least one of the ice cream places a bit inwards from Copacabana Praia. There you will also find several "por kilo" establishments.

Salvador - I spent three months in Salvador. Atm I can only recall one "specialty" - acaraje, which can be bought from street vendors, typically women wearing traditional dresses. You also have the "por kilo" buffet option in Salvador of course.

For Brazil in general - ACAÍ is an absolute MUST! A thick "smoothie" made from the fruit of the Acaí palm. It´s both extremely delicious and apparently very healthy too.
Another thing you will have a hard time avoiding in Brazil are the ubiquitous "sucos" (juices)- I found the selection and quality of sucos in Rio particularly good (way better than in Salvador, but then again I generally preferred Rio over Salvador).

Argentina - Many trips to a "parilla" are essential of course. Also, as someone else wrote, you can try the "Alfajore" cookies say from the Havana coffee chain which is a bit like Starbucks. For some upscale parilla dining head to Puerto Madero.

Sao Paulo - not much point in staying more than two days anyway, but you could try the area "Bixiga" for (I think expensive) Italian food or the Japanese area Liberdade for you know, food that isn´t very local and thus not really relevant for this thread.

quote:

Originally posted by rmeg:
I found the Dulce de Leche poisoniously sweet in Argentina, although I loved the flavour in anything else.

The Argentine ice-cream was to die for. And the chocolate of Patagonia.

So the next time I go there , I know what to enjoy .

i strongly recommend trying Molleja in Argentina or Uruguay. In the USA it is known as sweetbreads but is actually the cows voicebox. it effin delicious. taste kind of like dark meat chicken but the fat is distributed in a very unique way.

If you like pizza try the fugazetta in buenos aires. it has no tomatoe sauce and is covered in onions. sounds okay but tasted delicious.

For a GREAT steak dinner at an amazingly cheap price, try El Establo, in the city center of Buenos Aires.

For Malbec to suit any budget, visit Alex at Terroir/Casa De Vinos, Buschiazoo 3040 in Palermo, one block from Av. Libertador, near the botnaical garden. He knows his malbec, and will hook you up with the best of it in whatever your price range is.

http://www.terroir.com.ar/e_home_.htm

And, as already said---Dulce De Leche is your friend. You can just buy it in the grocery stores there & put it on whatever & whenever your taste buds demand.

And, yes, empendas another must.

Dang, I miss this food & need to get my arse back down there