Dining in Brazil -- Belo Horizonte Restaurants
Locally Grown Meat, Fruit and Vegetables are the Secret Ingredients
Mar 19, 2009
Dining out is only one of the pleasures of a visit to Belo Horizonte, the capital of Brazil’s Minas Gerais state. Brilliant modern architecture, spacious parks and gardens, a lively café life and nearby colonial towns are all reasons to visit. But food has to be high on the list.
The importance of good food to local residents is obvious from the first look at the immense market building, where it’s possible to buy everything from spicy fresh-made sausages that sizzle on grills to juicy sweet pineapples that are cored and sliced as they are sold. Honey from local hives, a brilliant array of sweet and hot red peppers, penuche-like candies wrapped in cornhusks, magnificent steaks, roasted cashews, racks of baby lamb and farmhouse cheeses.
Shopping alongside the local housewives are the chefs from local restaurants, choosing the best materials from which to create that evening’s menu.
Restaurante Xapuri
A century ago, farmers brought their produce to the city, stopping for food and lodging at farms en route. The first restaurants were these farms, and Xapuri still serves typical local meals based on beans, pork, kale, manioc flour and local fruits. Take a seat at one of the long rustic tables and sizzling iron skillets and bowls will begin to appear, filled with linguica sausage butterflied on skewers, grilled beef, tender pork loin with brilliant green kale, and the local favorite Feijão tropeiro – a savory blend of beans and sausage with cracklings. The highlight is a bright orange pumpkin filled with chicken stew and sizzling local cheese. Restaurante Xapuri is at R. Mandacaru 260, in the leafy Pampulha neighborhood (tel. 01155 31 3496 6198).
Fogo de Chão
Fore-runner of restaurants of the same name in Chicago, Baltimore and Austin; this is the original, a genuine churrascaria where meats are cooked over open wood fires in the style of the gauchos. Begin with the bounteous buffet of condiments and salads -- roasted tomatoes, local cheese, quail eggs, artichoke hearts, roasted red and yellow peppers and salads. Then waiters bring a never-ending selection of grilled meats to the table – slow-roasted beef cutes of incredibly rich flavor, double lamb chops, sirloins, sausages, quail, pork ribs. Choose a Rio Sol red wine from Bahia to accompany it. Fogo de Chão is on R. Sergipe 5, in the lively Savassi part of the city center (tel. 01155 31 3227 2730).
Dona Lucinha
Dedicated to preserving the traditional cuisines of Minas Gerais, Dona Lucinha brings hearty country dishes firmly rooted in the local terroir into the heady world-food dining scene of Belo Horizonte. Expect earthenware pots and cast-iron pans filled with sizzling dishes of locally grown meats and vegetables in savory sauces. Finish with a jewel-like array of candied local fruits, their sweet flavors balanced by tangy local farmstead cheese. Dona Lucinha is at R. Sergipe 11, also in Savassi (tel. 01155 31 3261 5930).
Getting to Belo Horizonte
American Airlines flies direct to Belo Horizonte from Miami daily and has seamless connections from major US cities. The business class seats on this flight include the new "lie flat" feature for a night's sleep en route.
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