Steak

In the time that I have been in Salvador, the churrascaria, Brasil Legal, has became something of a favourite. Unlike Boi Preto, the churrascaria that I talked about in my last blog post, Brasil Legal is no high end eating establishment. The décor is not flash. Here you won’t get any table service other than for drinks. There are no passadores (meat waiters) who come to your table to offer you meat. Instead, you must go to the meat station to collect it yourself.

Meat station

But what makes this place so great is the price. An all-you-can-eat lunch will set you back R$11 for the food and R$2.50 for a drink (total R13.50) which is about £5. When you consider that this is cheaper than a McDonald’s Big Mac meal which costs R$14, there really is no reason you should ever eat at McDonald’s in Salvador again. This place is cheap, cheap, cheap.

I don’t always advocate cheap places – I believe in quality over quantity. But here at Brasil Legal, the food is pretty good. The restaurant offers 25 different types of salads including a variety of fruit, 16 different cooked dishes, four types of meat (steak, chicken, sausage and chicken hearts) and desserts when available. Eating at Brasil Legal is a pretty addictive experience, especially when you consider that for nearly next to nothing you can eat pretty good food and fill your tummy to the brim. It’s a place that I’ve been coming to regularly for a late lunch so that I can eat myself silly after a hard day at the beach. In fact, I’ve been here about eight times, during which time I have sampled just about everything that the restaurant has to offer.

The salads and cooked meals change from day to day, although the meats on offer are always the same. The salads are good and fresh, and you can be assured of the freshness of the food at Brasil Legal as it is packed with people everyday which ensures that the turnover of the food is high.

Salad selection

The cooked meals ranged from average (I would avoid the pasta because the couple I tried were horrid) to good, and includes a mixture of traditional and Western type chicken, meat and fish dishes (I liked the grilled chicken, and some of the slow cooked beef stews were very tasty). The saucing is not the stuff of classic French techniques – there are no stock reductions, etc – but for R$11, who’s complaining?

To the meats. I usually found the steak here a little bit chewy and slightly salty, but it was tasty nonetheless when it was cooked medium rare. However, the greatest difficulty I had with the steak was coming across pieces of steak that had been cooked to this doneness. Typically the meat is cooked medium or well done, and when this was the case, I would usually skip the steak and go for the chicken which had a nice crispy finish to them.

Meat and salad

But the highlight of this meal for me was always the fruit. Typically, my routine after having two platefuls of food (the first being filled with salads and cooked food, the second with more salad and barbecued meats), was to stuff another plate high with fruit. There is always watermelon, which is usually very good. The pineapple, when available, is amazing. There’s mango, papaya and other fruits as well.

Fruit

So you can see why this place became a favourite of mine. Overall, the food is tasty, and when you factor in how little it costs, it really is incredible value. In fact, it’s probably one of the best value restaurants I have ever been to.

The locals seem to agree, for between 12 and 2pm this place is jammed full. Brasil Legal opens between 11 and 5pm (no dinner service) everyday, and from experience, it’s best to go after 2pm when the heaviest of the crowds have dissipated.

Brazilians don’t usually eat sandwiches for lunch, so this is another reason why Brasil Legal is such a popular lunch option. Another common eating concept in Brasil is the ‘Kilo Restaurant’ which offers ‘comida a kilo’. At a Kilo Restaurant you choose the food you want from a buffet selection and pay by weight. I tried one of these for lunch and found I ate less, didn’t enjoy the food as much and paid more than at Brasil Legal. After that, there really was no other place to go to for lunch than Brasil Legal.

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Summary information

Food rating: [xrr rating=3.5/5]

Price: Buffet lunch – R$11 (about £4). One soft drink or juice – R$2.50 (about £1). Service not required.
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Address:
Rua Afonso Celso, 152,
Barra, Salvador, Brazil
Tel: +55 (71) 3267 6152