Restaurante "Casa na Praia" Sao Paulo V. Mariana

After my introduction in Portuguese, there is another post in English by my guest Jonathan Galton.

Voce nao precisa mais ir para ao Litoral Paulista  para sentir-se num quiosque 'a beira- mar, basta ir ao restaurante Casa na Praia, localizado na Rua Doutor Amancio de Carvalho na Vila Mariana.

       O atendimento e' otimo, os paratos sao simples e bem saborosos.

O cardapio e' bem variado (peixe, carne e vegetariano)  voce pode tambem se refrescar com uma variada selecao de sucos naturais bem geladinhos! Prove os sucos de jaboticaba e uva branca.

 Sugestoes leves, bem adequadas ao clima de outono de Sao Paulo 

Post below by: Jonathan Galton  

More than anything else, it was the lock on the lavatory door that made me imagine I was at some beach-side restaurant. It had a chunky, wooden crudeness that screamed "Copacabana" at me - idiotic, of course, as I've never set foot in Rio de Janeiro, and haven't got a clue what a genuine restaurant "na praia" (by the beach) would look like - toilets or otherwise.

 By time I got to the table (wooden, of course, and shaded by raffia blinds), my companions were deep in the menu. I hesitated between a tasty-sounding beef sandwich and the more exotic monkfish with prawns and tomato sauce. It was the choice of two free accompaniments offered with the latter that decided me, and I opted for Pure de Mandioquinha (a root vegetable described unflatteringly by Wikipedia as "somewhat intermediate between carrot and celery", but in the event sweetly flavoursome) and Batatas Fritas (disappointingly redolent of McDonalds in taste and texture)

The monkfish steak itself was disconcertingly block-shaped, but thoroughly tasty, with the ever-so-slightly-leathery texture that makes it one of my favourite fishes. To wash this down, I selected something exotic from the extensive juice list: Suco de Jaboticaba. The Jaboticaba is a small fruit tree(Myrciaria cauliflora) native to Minas Gerais, the state north of Sao Paulo, and produces a dark purple fruit that grows direct from its bark. Having already tasted the last of the summer Jaboticaba (sweet, with a hint of astringency) in Fabio's family's farm, it was a pleasure to renew my acquaintance with the fruit in the form of a sweetly earthy juice that complemented my meal delightfully.

All in all: while in no way exceptional, and certainly not my best meal in Brazil (that honour goes to a mind-blowingly carnivorous experience in aChurrasqueria in the interior) it was a pleasant experience and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend the place to anyone in Vila Mariana, Sao Paulo with a hankering for the seaside...

Casa na Praia. Rua Doutor Amâncio de Carvalho, 329, Vila Mariana, ☎ 5082-5002.