RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Festival’s 18th edition will feature 83 restaurants, special attractions, including a tasting class, themed dinner, and even a mobile app.
The event will also include a special kids’ menu; an “affectionate cultivation” class, where children plant and take home their crops; cooking workshops for children; and a children’s fashion show.
There are 83 dishes, with starters such as the Ovo Perfeito (Perfect Egg), from Rocka, which consists of an egg cooked for 1h40m, at 60 degrees, with yam foam, Paris mushroom duxelles, quinoa popcorn, and crystallized lemon oil.
Also, desserts such as El Niño (caramel ice cream with flor de sal, accompanied by an authentic Argentine sweet milk alfajor, covered with very fine salty caramel cream) from Trento Gelato.
Some are typical of international cuisines, such as the Bao de Barriga de Porco (Pork Belly Bao) of the 74 Restaurant. In China, bao is a delicate bread bun, fermented for a long time and steamed. It is traditionally stuffed with slow-cooked pork belly, very soft, Hoisin sauce (a Chinese sweet and sour sauce) and coriander.
There’s also Nasi Goreng with Sawasdee’s BBQ Pig Mignon. Nasi Goreng means fried rice and is considered the national dish of Indonesia. It’s a combination of cooked rice, vegetables, spices, and meats fried in a wok.
In Nami, the dish chosen for the festival is the Barbecue Oriental rib, a grilled rib with oriental barbecue sauce, garnished with barbecued corn.
The festival takes place downtown — Rua das Pedras, Orla Bardot and Rua Manoel Turbio de Farias — and in Porto da Barra (Manguinhos), besides Praça dos Ossos and Lagoa dos Ossos.
While in downtown and Porto da Barra tastings are held on Fridays and Saturdays (July 5th, 6th, 12th and 13th), from 6 PM to midnight; in Ossos, the festival is held on Saturdays and Sundays (July 6th, 7th, 13th, and 14th), from 4 PM to 10 PM, attracting families, children and seniors.
There, the event is shaped like a cultural fair, with workshops for children and the children’s fashion show, as well as exhibitions by local artists.
Another new feature is that the event will also be held inside the restaurants during the week (from July 8th to 11th, Monday to Thursday). The tasting dishes will cost the same as those on the weekends’ events.
But there’s more: on July 12th, guest chefs promote a six-course dinner: Sandro Motta, from Santarém (PA), Marcones de Deus, from Grupo PAX, and local chef Joana Gallo. The “Raízes Brasileiras” (“Brazilian Roots”) dinner starts at 8 PM and costs R$180 (US$46) per person.