Rio de Janeiro has just gained 23 new cultural heritage places

Rio de Janeiro’s mayor, Marcello Crivella, has signed a decree awarding the status of city’s cultural heritage to 23 attractions that have become part of Rio’s history. They host restaurants, places where you can listen to and dance nice music and also commercial activities like cigar or garment stores.

In order to keep the title they have to maintain the charateristic that made cariocas fond of them throughout the years. We will here highlight some of them but you can read the complete list at this link: https://goo.gl/w9y77s.

TO EAT

Confeitaria Colombo

Open since 1894, this house is one of the most famous patisseries in Brazil and a city cultural heritage. The façade at Gonçalves Dias Street, Downtown, is rather common but the interior makes you travel back to Belle Époque Rio. Surrounded by Belgian mirrors and an art-nouveau décor you can taste pastries, sweet and salted pies, savouries of any kind.  Usually there is a buffet on the second floor where you can taste some local and most international dishes for lunch. You can get there by subway, bus or taxi.

Photo: Confeitaria Colombo

Angu do Gomes

Enslaved Africans brought “angu” to Brazil in the 18th Century, a rich food briskly adopted by the locals. In 1955, a Portuguese named Gomes started selling his recipe on the streets. After he died, his son and a partner opened a restaurant that made “Angu do Gomes” immortal. It is a corn porridge served with a bovine meat and offals stew. Restaurant is located at Largo de São Francisco da Prainha, 3, at Saude district. It’s open Monday to Saturday.

Photo: Alexandre Macieira | Riotur

TO DRINK

Carioca da Gema

The owners started a music house that also hosted and antiquarium as soon as Lapa discrict was renovated in the 1990’s. In the year 2000, they changed the address, function and name. Since then, Carioca da Gema has been a bar with tasty food; good drinks and you can listen to and dance with good samba and choro artists. From the drinks menu you could taste Zé Carioca (named after the Disney Character) a blend of aged cachaça, ginger and orange. That can go along well with black beans pastries, fried cod cakes or dried meat and cheese cakes. Address is avenida Mem de Sá, 79. Open daily at 7PM.

Photo: Oba Oba

Café do Bom Cachaça da Boa

In an old house with stone walls and high ceiling which was already been declared a architectural heritage site, the menu is a good division betweent the two ingredients the house is named after: coffee and cachaça. And in some items you can have both at the same time like the iced capuccino with whipped cream that you can add cachaça shot. As aptizers you might choose the grilled sausage stuffed with provolone cheese or the “tareco”, made with small cheese toasts with fresh parmesan over it. It is located at Rua da Carioca 10, Downtown, open from 10AM to the last customer.

Photo: Café do Bom Cachaça da Boa

TO PARTY

Rio Scenarium

One of the largest and most important houses in the most bohemian of Lapa streets, rua do Lavradio. It’s popular with tourists and has some antique store pieces as décor to create a special environment. The sound is democratic. There is samba, pop, rock, forró and gafieira, the latter two devoted to those who like to dance in pairs. Capirinha is very popular there, as well as an appetizer named “Northeastern Taste Plate”, made with sun dried meat with onions, fried manioc sticks, grilled cheese cubes and manioc flour toasted with clarified butter.

Photo: Rio Scenarium