Brazil in Madrid

Brazil is beauty, it is art and it is culture. And if we refer to its gastronomy, it is a country of diversity and contrasts. In the last edition of Salón Gourmets, where he participated as a guest country, more than twenty companies were in charge of championing the wealth of the vast Brazilian territory.

With a gastronomy that takes advantage of all its natural resources, Brazil has an enormous heritage of products and cuisines that want to make themselves known to the world.. And in Madrid there is a good sample of it. Today, Brazilian gastronomy in Madrid.

Ibero-American Capital of the Gastronomy of Contrasts

Brazilian cuisine has European, indigenous and, especially, African influences. With well-known dishes such as feijoada, picaña, churrasco, moqueca or sweet brigadeiro, and creative cuisine that is booming. Here we must highlight the world-renowned chef Alex Atala who, with his restaurant DOM, was one of the first to appear on The World's 50 Best Restaurants list.

One of the greatest hallmarks of Brazilian gastronomy is the great diversity of food and beverages, cuisines, and cultures that vary between different regions, giving rise to a rich and unique gastronomic heritage..

With fruits and vegetables like corn or açaí, drinks like cachaça or wines and sparkling wines, which are getting better and better, meats, sugar, spices… Brazil has products from the land, the sea and rivers from different ecosystems that vary across the country.

It stands out as the largest coffee producer in the world, with some high-quality varieties. It is also one of the largest producers of pork, a food that the restaurant A Casa do Porco, in São Paulo, wanted to honor (number 7 in 50 Best)..

Now, the Ibero-American Academy of Gastronomy is evaluating the possibility of holding, in the city of São Paulo, the Ibero-American Capital of Contrast Gastronomy.

Traditional Brazilian restaurants in Madrid

Ibero-American gastronomy has an increasing presence in the world, and Madrid is its great showcase. Among the most traditional Brazilian restaurants that can be found in the capital, is O Boteco Brasil, a bar-restaurant serving homemade food, with traditional dishes and portions, as well as caipirinhas and other cocktails and drinks..

Tropicalista is a gastrobar with a modern and cosmopolitan design, which offers Brazilian cuisine with creative touches, with dishes such as a croquette-shaped feijoada or the “super x-picanha sandwich”..

There are also other places like Sabor Gaucho or Sabor Brasil. And a restaurant that is not purely Brazilian, but that has dishes from its gastronomy, is Amazónico. Its chef, Sandro Silva, is Brazilian and is inspired by tropical, Asian and Mediterranean cuisine, with clear nods to his native country.. There are already Amazonicos in London and Dubai and, soon, another will open in Monaco.

Chispa Bistró isn't a Brazilian restaurant either, but its international cuisine draws influences from chef Gabriel Sodré's home country (also from Argentina, by chef Juan D'Onofrio)..

Rodizios in Madrid

There are other types of restaurants that are typical of Brazil (and also of Portugal), where the waiters offer different types of meat on the sword at the table, accompanied by garnishes, for a fixed price.. This type of service is called rodizio, and in Madrid we can find some specialized places, or churrascarías, such as Brasa y Leña, a Brazilian cuisine chain at affordable prices.

Another restaurant specializing in rodizio and, in general, in grilled meat and fish, is Rubaiyat, which also has an extensive national and international wine list.. Vila Brasil or Los Espetinhos are also steakhouses.

liquid cooking

Although there are other drinks, the quintessential Brazilian cocktail is the Caipirinha (or Caipirinha) and its main ingredient is cachaça.. In addition to the restaurants already mentioned, in Madrid it can be tasted in some places such as La Trocha, on the terrace of the San Antón market, in the Mix & Me cocktail bar, where you can taste “the authentic caipirinha”, or in Savas, located in Lavapies neighborhood.

And, of course, in Diego Cabrera's cocktail bars, who have just renewed their Salmón Gurú after several weeks of reform, and come up with a new proposal: Reset. Here old and new cocktails coexist, like a Brazilian smoothie with carrot and chipotle.

Food stores

And if you want to reproduce typical Brazilian dishes at home, there are stores like Kibom or Productos do Brasil, where you can find food and drinks like tapioca or farofa, typical Brazilian sweets or kits to make a good feijoada.