After spending 4 wonderful days in Rio, Lav and I moved our adventures onward to Paraty, which is a small colonial town along the coast 4 1/2 hours away from Rio. The town is adorable - imagine tons of cobblestone streets and old churches. Surprisingly for such a small town, they have quite a few restaurants to choose from. I had run into a very nice American exchange student while I was taking a walk and she had said that her favorite place was this Italian place right on the main square. Not that I was sick of Brazilian food yet, but it was kind of a nice reprise to have Italian food for once and we knew that it would be easy for Lav to find something to eat off the menu.
It's located right in the heart of town off one of the main squares in Paraty. They have some nice seating outside, so if the weather is nice, it's a great option to grab a table and people watch. The menu has your 2 standard Italian dishes: pasta and pizza. Wonderful. I wanted to get the fresh mozzarella pizza but they had sadly ran out of it for the night so I got a medium mushroom pizza and Lav got a spicy spaghetti and we split an appetizer of tomato bruschetta. The bruschetta came with extremely fresh crushed tomato and basil - I wasn't starving so I didn't eat the bread it came on, but I was very surprised at the quality of the food given how far away we were from everything. The pizza came out and it was enormous. I could tell by the looks of it that it would be good. It was a nice flour-y crust with TONS of gooey cheese and what looked like canned mushrooms. Now normally I don't like canned vegetables but there's something about canned mushrooms on pizza that I love. The crust was thin but held its own with all the cheese and mushroom on there and yet still had a nice crunch to it. I have to say that I was really pleasantly surprised by my meal here in both quality and quantity. The spaghetti dish was also huge and Lav mentioned that it hit the spot as well. This isn't a Babbo or anything but it certainly can fill your Italian craving in a small fishing town in Brazil. In fact, it was good enough that we went back there the next day for a quick bite after our boat outing because we knew it would be good, cheap and filling. Total bill: $16/pp
Photo Credit: Tripadvisor
Le Castellet Rua Dona Geralda 44, Paraty - 4.5 Forks
I may have actually found the world's cutest restaurant and it's Le Castellet. This place was literally across the street for our hotel and the minute I saw it, I knew we had to eat there. The place is beyond adorable and transports you to the heart of Paris. I mean just look at the picture - can't you imagine being in France? They have 2 small tables out front (they will bring more seating if requested) and they have 3 chalkboard menus and a cute decorative bicycle out front.
The menu is strictly French with lots of sweet and savory crepes and traditional dishes like croque madams and croque monsieurs. I went for a croque madame because of the egg that comes on top of it and Lav got a ratatouille crepe. I should note that the very nice waitstaff here does not speak any English and very little Spanish, so there was a lot of confused looks and pointing. Luckily, what little French I do remember from high school came in handy here when reading the menu. It should also be noted that if you eat here you MUST get a caipirinha because they are enormous, albeit a little on the sugary side. The croque madam was good - very soft bread, lots of melted cheese and a perfectly fried egg on top. The ham and gruyere cheese were perfectly melted and made for a a great salty combination.
As with a meal at an Italian restaurant, you need to save room for dessert when dining at a French restaurant. We got the profiteroles for dessert and it was heavenly - definitely the highlight of the meal. The pastry puffs were soft and light and sandwiched with sweet vanilla ice cream and then covered with warm chocolate on top of it. It was amazing and a great way to end the night. It wasn't too sweet but left you feeling like you still had a winning dessert.
This place is the perfect French bistro cafe to just sit outside with a bottle of wine, read a book and maybe have a croissant or two and yet be in an adorable side street in Brazil. Total bill: $23/pp
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