Roberta Sudbrack is now our favorite chef in Rio. She made a name for herself with gaining a Michellin star at this flagship restaurant. Although we've tried her Suddogs and met her at her food trucks we had yet to try out the famed restaurant so for Valentine's Day we tried it (actually the day before since it's closed on Sunday). It was easy to get a reservation online, earliest at 8:30pm.
We were one of the first to show up, but other groups came in shortly after. We opted for the 9 course meal in order to get the full experience, but you can choose a 3 or 5 course meal as well, ranging from R$250-450. They start you off with a few tasters to share and whet your appetite. Carrot leaves lightly salted and fried in a light tempura batter were crispy and delicious. The six puff pastries with cheese are served on slate and lightly salted biscuits with butter are quite tasty but don't fill up on those, save room for the real dishes.
They did offer a glass of champagne to start, which we did indulge in but followed up with Jeffrey's beer after. They have a selection of wines and hard liquor but no cocktails or fruit drinks.
Today's amuse-bouches included a series of bite sized but beautifully presented dishes, starting with a sweeten Brazilian corn cake with pork carpaccio slice topped with crispy sage leaves, which was flavorful and left you wanting more. Followed by a picked jackfruit in persimmon jelly and dried roe, which was very unique and an easy light dish. The next was a risotto-like dish topped with salmon roe (my favorite) presented in an adorable clay bowl. The last was a lobster and mushroom wonton in a light broth, which had very little lobster taste but delicious mushroom flavor.
The three main dishes consisted of a foie gras (weak flavor) with bread crumbs and a raw egg with whipped whites served in a martini glass, a carne de sol square of meat in a fermented tea broth, and boneless ribs on a bed of fava bean puree. All had great flavor though the meats were heavily salted.
Desserts included a tiny scoop of a strong chocolate mousse beautifully plated, 3 milks presented in 3 forms (baked, caramelized, flan) which was absolutely delicious and an array of tiny desserts (éclair, puff pastry, guava jelly, toffee, etc). By this time you can barely manage to eat any of them which is fine because they're not as great as the other desserts.
The whole experience was about 2.5 hours and quite a lot of money but well worth it for a Michelin rated restaurant. We found the service to be prompt and polite and they even called a taxi for us at the end of the night. read more