'Brazilian' gastromarvels
According to the estimates of the Casa do Brasil, the Brazilian community in Madrid is about 15,000 people. "But we are very permeable people," says Cássio Romano, the director of this cultural center and residence hall, where next Thursday, August 11, on the occasion of the premiere of the film The Violin Professor, a Brazilian party will be held with music and typical food.
“Traditionally, we are a society that has received emigration, so we mix a lot with people We don't stay in ghettos." Perhaps it is this adaptability to the place where they are that allows them control your stomach flu. Because those with whom we spoke, agreed not to miss their kitchen so much. Or because “Spanish food is already very good”, as Romano said. Or because they return to Brazil frequently. Or maybe because they still have a hard time finding some typical Brazilian dishes in Madrid. And it is that the gastronomy of Brazil is as diverse and wide as the country is. In any case, between all of them we have achieved develop a foodie guide with a flavor of Brazil.
THE STEAK
The different types of barbecued meat, from picanha to bife de chorizo or chicken, are one of the national prides in Brazil. And, for this reason, one of the things that they miss the most when they live abroad, but, luckily, also one of the things that they export the most and find the most in other countries. In Brazil, the best steaks are eaten in Rio Grande do Sul, the land of the gauchos.
Camilo Conte, Brazilian resident in Madrid and art director , is from that area of southern Brazil and for him it is important that when he goes to a churrasqueira there is “variety of types of meat but, above all, that the picanha is well cut” . His favorite restaurant for churrasco in Madrid is Vila Brasil, because the meat “is served with other traditional dishes , such as pão de queijo, farofa (cassava flour) or kibe, for example. As it is served in Brazil, not for tourists”.
Fernanda Godoy, a freelance journalist married to a Spaniard, is “very carnivorous” and, after a year living in Madrid, she is still looking for Brazilian restaurants, but she ** already has a favorite for churrasco: Rubaiyat **. “Meat is what I miss the most”, she says and here she satisfies that homesickness. “Also, their caipirinhas are delicious, the appetizers include pão de queijo, and for dessert they have goiabada, another one of my favorites” she says. "And another thing that I appreciate is the service, the treatment with people, more delicate and closer"
Carnivores, pleasure is this
Cássio Romano, resident in Madrid for 32 years and director of Casa do Brasil, has made a list of churrasqueiras, according to the budget: “If you are looking for cheaper Grill and Firewood , which has menus for less than 10 euros and there are several throughout Madrid. It was mid price the silver bull (now closed). And already more expensive, but also better Rubaiyat ”, agrees with Fernanda. “And now there is a new restaurant that is not purely Brazilian, but has dishes from our gastronomy and is Amazonian Roman continues.
“ Precisely one of the good things about Brazil is that having been a country of emigration, in the kitchen you can see that we have influence from all over the world. But to Spain and outside of Brazil what arrives above all are the restaurants specializing in meat. But we have other foods, lots of tapas, like the coxinhas de galinha that would be, badly translated, chicken croquettes ; or the kibes, which are also like croquettes, made of wheat and meat. They are of Arab influence and made with wheat that I have only found here in the M-30 Mosque”.
'Picanha'
FEIJOADA
The churrasco is a national pride, but the feijoada is the national dish. It is a black bean stew with pork and beef and various vegetables , which in Rio, for example, is traditionally eaten on Saturdays. "It's another of the dishes that I miss here," says Fernanda Godoy. "Sometimes I go to Mexican restaurants to eat black beans," while she waits to Saturday that in Rubaiyat they serve feijoada.
feijoada
THE SWEETS
"In general, I tell you that I really like Spanish cuisine and I don't miss things from Brazil so much," says Fernanda Godoy. She although she does recognize that he likes Portuguese sweets more than Spanish ones, and that is why he looks for places that offer them.
Alessandro Soler, journalist and son of a Spaniard from Almería, has been in Madrid for a year and three months, and although he admits he does not go to many Brazilian restaurants because he prefers to cook his dishes at home (“Basic things that are very Mediterranean and Brazilian at the same time: brown rice, mashed potatoes, pinto beans, grilled tuna ”), he also misses the pastry shop there:“ the brigadeiros above all ”.
Another national pride, but in sweet, a spice of truffle made with condensed milk, butter and traditionally with chocolate powder and granulated chocolate . "There is a nice café in the Plaza de Canalejas where they make some very worthy ones," he explains.
brigadeiros
*This article was originally published on August 8, 2016.