Best-kept Brazilian secrets at Alameda

    Updated: 2013-07-07 08:35

    By Mike Peters(China Daily)

      Print Mail Large Medium  Small

    Best-kept Brazilian secrets at Alameda

    If you are a fan of Latin food, you may share one of my frustrations about "foreign" restaurants in China: Where are the black beans?

    Mexican restaurants tend to tilt toward Tex-Mex and refried frijoles of the lighter kind. But one eatery in Beijing celebrates its South American roots and serves up a robust feijoada every weekend.

    This savory stew - often described as Brazil's national dish - is a slow-cooked wonder of beans and pork in a salty, purplish broth.

    It's served as a bit of a jigsaw puzzle: a bowl of white rice, the bubbling stew, a side of grilled salt pork and other meaty morsels, and small bowls of chopped tomato and other condiments.

    From there it's do-it-yourself: Spread a foundation of rice on your plate and build from there as you wish. A tiny cup of sauce - piquant with chilis that remind me of Tabasco but blended with a little bean broth to make it look deceptively harmless - adds firepower if you like your meal spicy, but a little goes a long way.

    When you ask regulars what sort of restaurant Alameda is, they might not automatically say "Brazilian", though that's its claim to fame.

    Saturday's feijoada lunch specials - still one of the best-kept secrets in Beijing despite plaudits from local dining guides - will make you feel like you're laid-back in Rio, but other dishes are a fine-dining mix that would shine anywhere.

    The menu is modest in size but big on presentation. Set meals change weekly for lunch and monthly for dinner, which makes it hard to tell newcomers "what's good?" except that pretty much any choice is fail-safe.

    There is invariably a steak choice anytime, and with a Brazilian chef and owner it's no surprise that these are star entrees - tender, flavorful, and cooked to order. ("Medium, please," is never the crapshoot here that it can be elsewhere.)

    Tucked against the Nali Mall, the cozy eatery has become a noontime favorite for Sanlitun's business crowd, with lunch sets that are great value at about the 100-yuan ($16) mark.

    Dinner sets are 198 yuan for two courses and 228 yuan if you want to add a dessert course.

    Executives and diplomats drop in for predictably good food and a wine-cellar ambiance in an atrium setting.

    Now that the weather is fine on the shaded patio, the staff sets up so many tables outdoors it's almost hard to tell there are other eateries in the courtyard.

    It's a fine setting to try the house cocktail, the caipirinha - made with cachaca (sugar cane hard liquor), sugar and muddled lime, urges chef Geraldo Thomazini.

    The atrium room at the restaurant's heart evokes a greenhouse and a sense that the place is environmentally friendly. The polished waitstaff will warn you that a meal inside the glass shell can be noisy when it's full of chatting business types or hungry families, but it's a pleasant, human buzz that usually adds to the fun.

    We recently settled in for a lunch under glass, choosing a tuna starter that was so artfully contrived it could have been a Picasso painting - and so delicious that we forgave its airs.

    Our mains, beef tenderloin and roasted sea bass for mains, were also elegant but less self-conscious, and we cleaned out plates with gusto.

    Choosing dessert can be torture - the kitchen has a magic way with pears, for example - but we opted this time for a simple rich chocolate mousse with strawberry and a rice pudding.

    Many Beijing restaurants - even some hipsters in the Western playground of Sanlitun - can't be bothered to offer wine by the glass. Alameda has long known that's no way to build a wine culture, and there's an appealing list of about 10 reds and whites by the glass as well as the extensive bottle menu.

    There is a selection of wines priced at about 200 yuan per bottle, but 400 yuan is average, says Thomazini, who adds that the restaurant changes the list about every three months.

    So a pleasant glass of malbec became a perfect match for our beef tenderloin main, and my friend and I savored steaming cups of cappuccino with dessert - kicking the lunch tab well past that 100-yuan price point and not minding a bit.

    michaelpeters@chinadaily.com.cn

    (China Daily 07/07/2013 page14)

    亚洲国产91精品无码专区| 精品国精品无码自拍自在线| 久久婷婷综合中文字幕| 最近免费中文字幕高清大全 | а√在线中文网新版地址在线| 中文字幕亚洲精品无码| 日韩欧美群交P片內射中文| 亚洲成a人片在线观看中文动漫| 最近中文字幕免费mv在线视频| 伊人蕉久中文字幕无码专区| 亚洲啪啪AV无码片| 国产精品成人无码久久久久久 | 久久精品国产亚洲AV无码偷窥| 777久久精品一区二区三区无码| 久久久久无码国产精品不卡| 久久中文骚妇内射| 久久久久亚洲AV片无码下载蜜桃| 无码内射中文字幕岛国片| 五十路熟妇高熟无码视频| 最近新中文字幕大全高清| 无码国产伦一区二区三区视频| 一区二区三区无码高清| 97无码人妻福利免费公开在线视频| 国产精品无码无片在线观看| 99精品久久久久中文字幕| 无码人妻AV免费一区二区三区| 亚洲无av在线中文字幕| 国产AV无码专区亚洲AV漫画| 国模吧无码一区二区三区| 欧美日韩中文国产va另类电影| 久久久久亚洲AV无码网站| 欧美日韩中文字幕| 99久久人妻无码精品系列蜜桃 | 日韩欧美一区二区不卡中文| 无码人妻精品一区二区三区久久久 | 久久激情亚洲精品无码?V| 最近免费中文字幕大全免费 | 日韩av片无码一区二区三区不卡| 亚洲精品一级无码中文字幕| 99久久国产热无码精品免费久久久久| 爆操夜夜操天天操狠操中文|