Rio Day Three—Porcão Churrascaria

This is my third trip to Rio de Janeiro. It’s Ursula’s fourth.  Whenever we come here we engage in that marvelous Brazilian dining experience known as churrascaria.  And when we go for churrascaria we invariably visit our favorite such establishment, Porcão.  Porcão has several locations, but our particular favorite is the one in the Flamengo district of Rio.  The views of Pão de Açúcar (Sugarloaf Mountain) and Cristo Redentor (Christ the Redeemer statue) are among the best in the entire city, and the restaurant itself is located adjacent to the very exclusive yacht harbor at Guanabara Bay

In a churrascaria, you pay a set price for all you can eat at the salad bar and any meats served in the restaurant.  The interesting thing in churrascaria service is that waiters flow around the tables with huge skewers of meat.  If you see something you like, you get the waiter’s attention and he will bring the skewer over to your table.  There he will carve off a slice as you grab it with a pair of tongs and drop it onto your plate.  That means you definitely want to go easy at the salad bar and, prior to your visit, skip lunch and go very light on breakfast.

Upon being seated all guests are issued a diagram of a cow with the different cuts marked on it.  Additionally, you will be given a round tag, red on one side and green on the other.  You display the green side, which says, “SIM Por Favor (Yes, Please),” until you simply can’t take it anymore and scream for mercy.  The emergency mercy indicator is the red side, and it says, “NÃO Obregado (No, Thanks).”  Flipping over to red signals the wait staff to collect your plates and entice you with the optional, non-inclusive desert menu.

To give you the flavor of the experience (pun intended), we decided this trip to photograph the event from the views outside the restaurant to the offerings contained within this magical establishment.  So, sit back, relax, enjoy the views, and prepare to have your appetite whetted to where you can’t stand it: