Carioca Brixton

After a chilly day in Hyde Park, my friends and I walked over to Victoria to grab a drink. The pubs were all jam packed and we didn’t stand a chance. We were also getting hungry by this point so jumped on the Orpington train to Brixton to try our luck there instead.
Brixton Village Market was quite busy and we couldn’t quite agree on what to go for. We waked past Carioca which was almost dead and my friends liked the look of their menu. I’m the first to admit to a habit of assuming a deserted restaurant is lacking in customers for a reason so was slightly reticent, despite eating at Brixton Village on many occasions and never having a disappointing experience.
We were seated quickly and a waiter was straight over to pour us some water, take a drinks order and provide menus. He was friendly and fun and we were already starting to warm up from the bitter chill outside. The menu itself isn’t exactly extensive but there’s a reasonable choice of food and I don’t remember seeing anything for over £11.50 in price. One of our party is gluten intolerant and there was an abundance of GF choices on the menu which was a nice surprise.
After bringing two carafes of red wine over, the waiter took our food order. I wasn’t sure what to go for as I’m pretty notorious for thinking ‘that sounds familiar, I better have that’. Instead, I went for Feijoada, the national dish of Brazil. It’s a stew of beef, pork and chorizo in refried black bean and served with sautéed spinach.
When my meal came, the waiter — this was a second friendly chap — asked me if I had eaten feijoada before. I hadn’t — so he explained to me what the funny little pot of ‘stuff’ was that came with it. Unfortunately (maybe because of the wine…) I can’t remember, but you sprinkle it over the stew! He also explained that I had to eat the wedge of orange after I had finished stew and rice. Which I absolutely did because the stew was delicious and hearty — just what I wanted on a wintery evening. No chance of anything being left on that plate.
Later on, the restaurant got busier but unusually, the staff were not in a rush to get rid of us and let us happily sit there throwing back red wine.
Carioca doesn’t have any customer toilets — instead you are directed outside and over the way to the public toilets. You have to pay 20p to get in but such is the hospitality at Carioca, they actually gave us the money to go!
When we eventually decided to move on (because my friend wanted froyo…) we were told the card machine wasn’t working and we’d need to get cash. We didn’t actually have any on us and they were quite happy for us — in our coats and taking our bags with us — to go to the cashpoint and return with the money.
Never again will I judge a quiet restaurant.

Even though we were almost half an hour early we were warmly welcomed and seated with a complimentary signature lime Caipirinha which I used to toast the magnificent Muscles — my friend’s pet dog who I occasionally looked after who had sadly had to be put down earlier that day. On Wednesday’s Carioca offer feasting options for those dining in groups of 2 or 4 which are super value for money but we decided to stick to the regular menu and just order a dish each and then swap half way through! To start though we couldn’t resist the lure of the calamari which came beautifully presented with a mildly spicy sauce which complimented the lightly fried squid. For mains we split the chicken caipira; a traditional braised chicken dish where the chicken is seasoned in shallot onion, fresh ginger, garlic, spices, spring onion and parsley before being slow cooked in a low heat served with rice. The meat came on the bone but literally fell away it was so tender and the rice soaked up the juices perfectly to make every bite delicious. The second dish we shared was the pulled beef Brazilian burger on a cheese bun. Now I’ve had pulled pork before (in fact I have a recipe for this coming up on the blog next week) but never pulled beef. The chefs at Carioca use flank steak for this dish which the marinate and slow cook until it pulls away into long strips of tender beef which they then mix with peppers an onion for the filling. The meat was incredibly delicious and I definitely favoured this dish over the chicken but what really made this special was the cheese bun that it was served on. Believe it or not these buns are gluten-​free making something like 90% of the menu at Carioca suitable for those that are gluten intolerant and I have to say I think that this bun was BETTER than some of its gluten including counterparts. Crunchy on the outside but soft and chewy on the inside the bun also didn’t fall apart when the meat juices had soaked it through. I tried to ask what the special recipe was but it’s a closely guarded secret so if you don’t want to take my word for it you’ll have to visit them and order this for yourself — I assure you, you won’t be disappointed.

Yum! Brazilian food! I came here with a friend from out of town and my boyfriend. We were looking for an interesting new place to eat dinner.
My friend eyed up this place and we were enticed by the special menu where you could pick a starter and a main for £12.95! Since we were curious to try Brazilian food this was perfect place to be.
The three of us ordered different starters so we could try different stuff. My favourite was the Coxinhas de Frango which are «little drums» of moist shredded chicken. The other starters were super tasty as well. I had the spicy chicken wings (which were delicious with a slight spicy kick!) and my boyfriend got the lamb kibbeh, which tasted like a happy combination of falafel & lamb mince. Really enjoyed it all!
My friend and boyfriend both ordered the traditional Feijoada which was a meaty stew served with rice and an orange slice. I tasted it bite and it was very savoury and bean-​y. Very nice but I liked what I ordered better. I had the Arepa with pulled beef. It was delicious. It comes sandwiched between two crispy pieces of flatbread and the beef was tender, juicy and cooked to perfection.
Our waiter was very kind, humorous and polite. Great food, great service and beers around for great laughs. What more could you want?!