Rio de Janeiro restaurants and cafes offer typical Brazilian meals as well as meals that you are already familiar with such as sandwiches, hamburgers, pizzas, pastas, crepes, pancakes, quiches, savories, pies, salads, steaks, chicken, seafood, appetizers, deserts, and more.
One of the most common compliments travelers make when visiting Rio is about the variety of meals you can have in the city. It is unlike that you will complaint about the lack of typical and non-typical food options in Rio de Janeiro.
Copacabana, Ipanema, Leme, and Leblon (where most tourists stay) have hundreds of restaurants, cafes, and bars (at walking distance), which serve typical Rio de Janeiro meals as well as dishes from other parts of Brazil and the world.
The most popular and typical meal though among locals is rice and beans for lunch (accompanied, for course, with side dishes). Brazilians love to eat both together at lunch time, which is the main meal of the day. In Rio, black beans is the most popular among beans, however, in other parts of Brazil other types of beans are commonplace in meals at lunch as well as at dinner.
If you love rice and beans, you can have plenty of it inexpensively. If you don’t like rice and beans you won’t have any problem in finding something else to eat.
Other typical meal is Rio de Janeiro is churrasco (barbecue). Natives of Rio eat it at home (usually on special occasions on weekends), or at typical steakhouses throughout the city. The Brazilian steak is excellent, and if you like meat, give yourself a treat by going to a local upscale steakhouse. It will worth the money.
You don’t eat meat? No problem. There are salads bars in the upscale steakhouses as well as at typical restaurants where you pay by the weight of your meal. Meat eater or vegetarian — Rio de Janeiro has several different options for you.
Get a copy of My Rio Travel Guide, and learn about the most typical meals you can have and where locals have them in Rio de Janeiro.
Click below to get your updated copy
“This e-book is an excellent source of information for the independent traveler.” Madson, the author.