Le Vin is one of the few French Bistros in Rio de Janeiro. And as such, not a half bad one…read more My regular order there, aside the devilishly divine couvert of fresh bread, butter and paté, is Moules à la Creme et Frites that go down well with a bottle of Chilean Carménère. Controversial, I know. Aside of my usual mussles fix, other traditional frenchies are also palatable - steak tartare, boeuf bourguignon and confit de canard are pleasant and extremely filling. Also on offer are fresh oysters which, strangely enough, are a bit of a rarity in these hoods. The decor is slightly lacking character and could do with a few more cosy and snug touches to really complete the French Bistro style experience. Prices are above average, but mostly worth the splurge.

Espresso, manioc pastry, watermelon and passion fruit suco, and their bread basket are such a…read moretreat. This has been my morning ritual in Rio so far.

Good option for a local breakfast, good service too…read more Buena opción para un desayuno local, buen servicio también.

Wow. This place has the most amazing breakfast I have had in Rio. There is a lot of different…read morechoices, the pastries, breads, cakes and quiches are amazing. The service was great, but of course we are only English speaking. So be patient because just like everywhere else in Rio, barely anyone speaks English. This can be very frustrating but you have to realize it is not their fault. Most higher educated speak somewhat English, waiters etc rarely do. The ambience was really mellow, kid and pet friendly. Milena was amazing, super patient and sweet and really tried her best to help us. Google translate is your friend here!

From my one experience here ordering the meal Completo, my impression was that this is your place…read moreif you can tolerate quantity over quality. The dining space consists of a small indoors and a decent sized outdoors patio. My waitress was not exceptionally friendly when I tried to order in Portugese and when I asked for clarification in English she didn't try to help. The Completo meal itself was very massive and came in several installments. They started off with the drinks, freshly squeezed orange juice and a cafe con leiche (basically a latte), both were delicious but came too early. Next came the scrambled eggs which were consumable on its own but was rather bland and no salt nor pepper were available on the table. They then brought out the cold cuts, cheese and jam without the bread basket for several minutes so I sat there thinking if I should just start eating each individually and cut my losses. However, when the bread basket came, oh was it glorious!! As mentioned in my picture, it included several cut sourdoughs, plain bread and whole wheat, as well as a fresh butter croissant and a few pão de quiejos. They were all warm to the touch and crispy, which makes me think (or at least hope) they were made semi fresh. The jam, cheese and cold cuts they provided were plentiful to create several sweet and/or savory mini sandwiches to devour. I loved this basket and emptied it promptly; it was the highlight of my meal and definitely not to be missed when visiting. I had recently travelled to Portugal so I had to try this cafe's pasteis de nata and boy did it resemble the freshly baked Pasteis de Belem in Lisboa. Like the bread basket, it was warm and crispy. Would HIGHLY recommend passerbys to try this! All in all, this was a mediocre dining experience with an INCREDIBLE bread basket and pasteis de nata (let that be the positive takeaway). If you're hungry, this is the place to be for its copious meals, otherwise you can probably find better quality in the various cafes across Ipanema.

A quick stroll from the JW Marriott, the goodies in the display case are enticing and the staff…read morewere very friendly. Initially, I went in to ask for help finding a bank ATM and the cashier was very patient with my Google translate plea. Long story short, my ATM card did not work at that bank but we stopped by later for a coffee and something sweet. Lots of locals and tourists enjoying an afternoon treat. Service was slow but hey- we were on vacation!

The Bakers came highly recommended by our hotel for breakfast. The restaurant itself is not so…read morewelcoming as it seems to mainly be a bakery with what feels like a restaurant add-on. Service was quite slow and the food we ordered took quite some time to come. Overall, the food did seem to be decent quality - and eggs were not too greasy. Fruit salad was also tasty and came with a generous serving of papaya. Overall, not outstanding, but if you are looking for a basic breakfast to fuel you for the day you can definitely find it here.

This restaurant is located right next door to the famous Zuka which doesn't take reservation after…read more8pm. We decided to try it because we didn't want to wait and they seated us right away. We got the round table in the front of the restaurant, it was perfect. The service was hors pair. The food was incredible, my coup de coeur was the tuna crudo on chips, OMG!!! We actually ordered 3 times that night!! LOL The drinks was fantastic but the bartender was the most non smiley server I have seen. :( The food was exquisite, I will go back!! I also liked the white decor of this place. very clean looking. It is also very well air conditioned. The manager treated us like we were superstars.

Gourmet with a "wink." So while the venue is precious, the cuisine is rather dull…read more The risotto was executed by a blind monkey without taste buds. How was it even edible? The pasta was portioned for a child rather than an adult. The burrata salad was thrown together willy-nilly. The octopus was overcooked. The tuna was drowning in dressing. Death by dressing. Our group will find a new location, as this outfit was a joke.

Chef Daniel Pinho made a very well balanced menu working primarily on the taste from his…read moreexperiences in Thai, French and Brazilian cuisine. The very cool atmosphere on Rio's planetarium pilotis is a perfect mix for this charming, unmissable bistro.

Os banheiros não funcionam e chegamos antes do artista começar a cantar, e ele começou quando…read moreestávamos recebendo nossa conta, então eles nos cobraram por sua apresentação, mesmo que ele não tenha ouvido ou estivesse presente.

I freakin adore ballada mix…read more Everything I have got from here taste very good. Not all restaurants in Brazil serve simple but tasty food, but I think that ballads mix does. When I go to balada , it is usually to have açai and everytime it has been possible for me to customize it. I usually have my açai na tigela (in a bowl) on the base of coconut water and less Guarana sirup to make it a little bit less sweet. And I have banana and granola on the side. Very well recommended. This is the real açai, creamy and full of taste of this amazing wonder berry.

Quite an interesting experience. You walk into this place and it appears as though its an…read moreold-school, five-star establishment except we were in flip flops covered and sand and they let us in The economy in Rio isn't great so maybe that's why they were a little more forgiving. Sadly we came hunting for feijoada, which they weren't serving that day. So we ordered the Greek style octopus which sadly came as a cheesey potato stew. It was ok; I prefer my seafood fresh and citrusy vs. buttered and stewed but that's just my preference. Servings here are huge by the way, and beware.. and they take the plates to another table to cut up before they serve you (so if you're a food-picture-taker-obsessor like me, pay attention and be sure to ask before they portion). My friend ordered the chicken milanese which I learned is very popular in South America and it was very delicious. It's like a fried/thinned cutlet with mashed potatoes and gravy. The gravy may have double for the octopus stew now that I think about it. I literally LOLd when my hearts of palm salad came out. It had no dressing (not abnormal in SA) and was it was just literally 10 giant hearts of palm sticking up off the plate. After I dressed it myself I enjoyed it, I've never eaten palms of this size but definitely one noted , Would have loved to see it paired with some butter lettuce, onions, tomatoes, corn maybe - anything? The Pao de Queijo/Cheese empanada thing was good, nothing mind blowing. The servers were very friendly and kind. Just so bummed I couldn't try the feijoada. Overall, I was pretty surprised at the experience given their 5-star rating, but its just a fresh humble reminder expectations are a little different in Rio compared to SF- and that is totally ok:)

Degraus has a very old-school vibe to it. The servers are very formal.. this is the kind of place…read moreyour father takes you to...keep it simple, keep it classy. Hands down this was the best meal I had in Rio. Me and a friend shared some sort of grilled seafood platter that had a little bit of everything. I knew I had ordered the right plate when I tried the Octopus and it was perfectly cooked, just like the fish, the shrimp and every other item in our platter. The pasteles were also very good and the service was excellent. While I was too busy eating my platter to remember what the rest of our party of 12 ordered, everyone was happy with their meal. It isn't easy to please a party of 12.