Best Brazilian and other food in Recife, Brazil

If you're aiming for an authentic eating experience, the first thing you need to do in Brazil is to have the right kind of drink. Cachaça is especially perfect for a place like Recife since it is a distilled spirit made from fermented sugarcane juice. It is noted as being similar to rum but different in production, and the popularity of the drink in Brazil really cannot be measured. Chances are you will have a drink of cachaça if you're relaxing no matter what other food and drink you want to check out.

Restaurante Parraxaxá has great cachaça and mixes based on it.

Since we started with sugar, let's continue with something authentically Brazilian and seriously sweet. Brigadeiros are famous for allegedly having been invented in Rio de Janeiro. The formula is well-known: a dessert-type dish made of condensed milk, cocoa powder, butter, and chocolate sprinkles covering the outside layer. Brigadeiros are commonly made at home, and also found in bakeries and snack shops, so a restaurant variation should really stand out to be appreciated.

Nez Bistrô will entertain you with its sweets and more.

Moving forward, we should mention another popular dish that has been enjoyed by the people of Brazil for over a century and feels rather similar to sweets but with meat. Coxinha basically comprises chopped or shredded chicken meat, covered in dough, and molded into a shape resembling a drumstick. The dish is either fried or battered and presented as an appetizer or a dessert with a selection of drinks, albeit optionally.

Reteteu - Comida Honesta will have you covered.

Taking a little break from the topic of sweetness, let's sink our teeth into something with a savoury flavour. The French invention called quiche that's popular at local restaurants is just that — a French tart consisting of pastry crust filled with savoury custard and pieces of cheese, meat, seafood or vegetables. One big thing that makes the dish stand out is that you can serve it in any possible way — cold, hot, a little warm, etc.

Galo Padeiro has some good quiche.

Another sweet offering is also French in origin but this time it has a lot more classic feel to it than quiche. A petit gâteau is literally a "small cake", as the name implies, was invented in the early 1980s as a chocolate dessert. The cake can be made in several ways, but the most popular is a crunchy rind variety that has a creamy filling and is conventionally served hot with vanilla ice cream on the side. A hot drink is recommended to accompany the dish. 

Appenini Gourmet is a good choice here.

Let's get to know something a lot less obvious than the dishes we have listed above. It's quite unexpected that food like sunomono would be popular around Recife. What is sunomono? It's a Japanese dish consisting of thinly sliced uncooked vegetables and seafood dressed in rice vinegar. Sunomono dishes are closely related to namasu, but the difference is that sunomono is only dressed with vinegar instead of marinading.

Coni Móvel Temakeria is a good Japanese place to check out for this kind of food.

This offering on our list is a classic one, a food of Portuguese origin introduced in Europe and then making its way back to South America. Brazil is one of the countries where churros are especially popular, and the fried dough pieces can be found in most restaurants, especially the variation filled with jelly instead of the doce de leite, traditional in Brazilian churros. Special churros with chocolate are to be sought out.

Boleria of Marias is praised for its churros.

This time we're talking about serious originality in food. Cabidela is another Portuguese influence, a dish based on poultry, usually chicken. The original cabidela has been found in written records since the 16th century. What makes this dish stand out is that the blood of the chicken is added almost at the end, mixed with vinegar so it doesn't clot while the rice is boiling. This is tricky and, to some, not too ethical, but if you're into something exotic, cabidela is for you.

Seu Luna Restaurante e Bar is a good choice here.

We started sweet, so it's only natural that we end our list salty. Carne-de-sol is the perfect gritty dish from Brazilian cuisine, as it is basically heavily salted beef cured under the hot sun for several days. Carne-de-sol is sometimes fried and served as a hamburger, or baked in the oven with cream, but there are so many uses for it that it's almost too difficult to list all kinds of dishes where this salty beef can be integrated.

Edmilson da Carne de Sol is an obvious choice here.

If you thought that cabidela is the only Brazilian dish that involves blood, you've never tried sarapatel. The word "sarapatel" literally means confusion, and the mish-mash of ingredients explains how the dish came to be named as such. These ingredients include pork meat and heart, liver, tongue, and even blood sometimes, even though modern recipes tend to avoid using it. The flavourings and spices differ from region to region, for example, some use more vinegar. The size of the pieces also varies and depends strongly on the technique used for cooking. The meat is first parboiled, then diced and sauteed before being cooked in a spicy and vinegary sauce.

Parraxaxá has great sarapatel.

As you can see, Recife stays true to its Brazilian heritage and historical roots, but incorporates many influences of modern civilization, as a great city should. Have fun eating there and enjoying all Recife has to offer.