International food in Rio

Foreigners demand for international food is big in Rio. The local cuisine is very bland and most visitors miss a bit of spice or taste. I have put together a list with some recommendations of restaurants that could satisfy your craving. Note that not all of these restaurants are to my regard very good, but they might cool your craving. I have also put down some shops that sell spices and food stuff if you want to do it yourself.

International Food Restaurants

Indian

Natraj
R. General San Martin 1219, Leblon map
Comment: The better of the two Indian restaurants in town although it really doesn´t shine. Quite expensive.

Raajmahal
R. General Polidoro 29, Botafogo map, tel 2542-6242
Comment: Like a pricey lunch restaurant with the aim to have an Indian profile.

Arabian

Arab
Av. Atlântica 1936, Copacabana map, tel 2235-6698
Comment: The Middle Eastern food is actually quite good in Rio. An explanation to that is probably the large portion of people with Lebanese heritage here. This is a good place.

Amir
R. Ronald de Carvalho 55, Copacabana map, tel 2275-5596
Comment: Really good with belly dancing every Thursday at 9:30PM (call to confirm).
Site: Amir

Thai

Nam Thai
R. Rainha Guilhermina 95, Leblon map, tel 2259-2962
Comment: The first Thai restaurant in Rio. Good enough, not so genuine, very much like a European Thai restaurant.
Site: Nam Thai

Sawasdee Bistrô
R. Dias Ferreira 571, Leblon map, tel 2511-0057
Comment: Not a traditional Thai restaurant, the head chef has inspired by the tastes of Thailand created the menu. Good food, very contemporary. Cross-over.
Site: Sawasdee

Japanese

Madame Butterfly
R. Barão da Torre 472, Ipanema map, tel 2267-4347
Comment: Of all international food in Rio Japanese is probably the most popular. This is the most advanced and one of the best. Not only sushi but offers many Japanese flavours, all for a good deal of money.

Mirai
R. Vinicius de Moraes 121, Ipanema map, tel 2523-7026
R. Dias Ferreira 116, Leblon map, tel 2511-1476
Comment: If you want a sushi bar with high quality for reasonable prices Mirai is the place.

Sushi Leblon
R. Dias Ferreira 256, Leblon map, tel 2512-7830
Comment: The first sushi in Rio, always rated as one of the best. Pricey.
Site: Sushi Leblon

Italian

La Trattoria
R. Fernando Mendes 7, Copacabana map, tel 2255-3319
Comment: A really good choice if you don´t want to spend to much money. Good Italian food in a homely setting.

Cipriani
Av. Atlantica 1702, Copacabana map, tel 2548-7070
Comment: High level, high prices. Nicely located in the luxurious hotel Copacabana Palace.

The standard of the pizzas in Rio has to be mentioned. For some reason most pizzas do not contain tomato sauce, instead you are provided with little satchets of ketchup and mustard you are supposed to add afterwards. Yikes! A good and affordable option is to have a pizza in any of the Zona Sul super markets that has a restaurant part.

German

Bar Lagoa
Av. Epitácio Pessoa 1674, Lagoa map, tel 2523-1135
Comment: Classic Rio restaurant that offer a solid German menu with sausages and potato salads.

Chinese

Chon Kou
Av. Atlântica 3880 2nd floor, Copacabana map, tel 2287-3956
Comment: Good Chinese food in that environment we all recognize.

Spices and Food Stuff

You may not have the money or you just want to cook it yourself. Walking in to your standard supermarket here in Rio you´ll notice how they lack many things that are important for cooking international food. If you want to cook basic Italian, Arabian or Japanese you just have to check out your nearest Zona Sul supermarket, you should be able to find everything you need right there. It´s worse if you want to cook Asian food since you can´t find food stuffs almost anywhere.

For Indian food you can find real curry powder on the Tuesday market, Tuesday mornings on the square General Osório in Ipanema map. This is also a great place to buy rarer fresh herbs like dill. The best is probably to mix the powder yourself, getting the spices for that is actually quite cheap. The place to go is any of the stores of:

Casas Pedro
- R. Barata Ribeiro 370, Copacabana map
- R. da Alfândega 104, Centro map
- R. Senhor dos Passos 110 map and 240 map, Centro
- R. Buenes Aires 346, Centro map
- R. Conde de Bonfim 480, Tijuca map
Site: Casas Pedro
Here you will find a lot of the dry spices necessary, you probably have to buy them ground rather than whole since finding a decent pestel is extremely hard. They also have a good selection of Arabian food stuff.

For East Asian food the best place to go is:

Mercearia Mei-Jo
R. Marques de Abrantes 219, Flamengo map, tel 2551-2824
Comment: Here you have a lot of stuff for the Oriental kitchens. They have real curry paste and fish sauce, unfortunately not everything you´d want like kaffir lime leaves and lemon grass.

Grão Integral
R. das Laranjeiras 43, Laranjeiras map, tel 2285-6739
Comment: A store specialized in macrobiotic and organic food stuffs that also has quite a lot for the Japanese kitchen.

Lemon grass is one of those products that is really hard to find, I heard rumours that they have it some Zona Sul supermarkets sometimes; I have never seen it myself.

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