PlanetEye

It sounds like the ultimate revenge against partners who can’t control their roving eyes on the beaches of Rio –  at Restaurante Santa Arte, in leafy Santa Teresa, the menu offers ‘Boyfriend Cooked in Lemon, Without Fire’. Spluttering on my pre-meal drink, I had to consult the Portuguese version of the menu to find out exactly what had been lost in the translation here. The answer was simple enough – namorado, the Portuguese word for boyfriend, is a type of fish, and someone at Restaurante Santa Arte has clearly been over-reliant on internet translation sites. Other intriguing menu options included ‘Crayons’ (actually mini-pasties) and a salad featuring ‘Sleeve Pieces’ (actually mango slices).

But while the menu might have you chortling into your mango – sorry, sleeve – the food itself is nothing to be scoffed at.  Head chef Vladimir Reis takes enormous pride in his work, and the pan-national dishes that make up the menu are all immaculately presented, and taste every bit as good as they look. Carnivores are well catered for, with entrees including sundried beef served with aipim, and mains including choices such as chicken breast in orange sauce served with spinach rice; but vegetarians have plenty of choice too – meat-free starters include guacamole with crispy pasties, while mains include a virtuous-sounding mixed grain risotto with carrot and spinach. 

I visited Santa Arte early on a Sunday evening, and took a seat on the well air-conditioned upper floor, which offered a great vantage point onto the street below, already beginning to fill up with Sunday drinkers. On the restaurant’s busier lower floor, a local singer/guitarist was providing the evening’s entertainment (a five real cover charge applies when live music is on the menu). With local artwork hung on the wooden walls, the scene was very bohemian – very Santa Teresa.

There are a good selection of salads and sandwiches on offer here as well as heartier main meals. I opted for the Caprese salad, which, at R$15.20, turned out to be fantastic value. I received an enormous plateful of very fresh lettuce and tomato covered with wonderfully garlicky croutons, delicious shiitake mushrooms (a real treat in Brazil, where mushrooms are a rareity), and abundant mozzeralla pieces. My dining partner chose chicken with seasoned rice, which arrived beautifully presented and accompanied by a delicious puree of green banana. There are no shortage of places to eat and drink in Santa Teresa, but the food, ambience and competitive prices all help Santa Arte rise above much of the competition. To complete the boho experience, don’t miss the chance to visit the adjoining shop – Santa Arte – a real treasure trove of jewellry, bags, and vintage clothes. You'll find the restaurant and shop in the heart of Santa Teresa, at Rua Pascoal Carlos Magnos 103. 

Returning to the subject of mis-translations, I feel I should add that 'boyfriend cooked in lemon', is not, in fact, the most amusing Portuguese-English translation I have seen in Brazil. That honour must go to a bar at Rio international airport, where, inexplicably, the ‘spirits’ section of the menu has been translated as ‘lonely gays’.

A trip to Rio’s lush botanic gardens should feature on any visitor’s itinerary and, once you’ve made the bus ride out there, it’s well worth taking the time to explore the wider Jardim Botanico neighbourhood. With its wide, tree-lined streets, mansion houses and abundance of quality restaurants, this well-heeled neighbourhood offers plenty to attract the eye and tempt the palate.

Of course, any visit to the neighbourhood should begin with a trip to the botanical gardens themselves. The antique gardens, inaugurated in 1808 in honour of King Don Joao IV, are home to some 8,000 species of plants, and tropical birds flit among the exotic vegetation. The park was brought bang up to date earlier this year with the introduction of a new museum dedicated to climate change and environmental matters – the first museum of its kind in Brazil. There are two cafes within the park – the first, close to the entrance, offers very tasty but overpriced sandwiches, salads etc, while a cheaper snack bar in the centre of the park is the place to come for burgers, hot dogs and other guilt-inducing treats. Entrance to the park is R$8.

Most people take the bus straight back to their hotel after visiting the gardens – more fool them. Within five minutes walk of the Botanical Gardens is Parque Lage, home to various trails and walkways, man-made caves, mini-waterfalls, small aquarium, and one of the most picture-perfect buildings in Rio. Café Lage and the Escola de Artes Visuais are housed in a wonderful Belle Epoque mansion, fronted by a rectangular pool of water (it’s too shallow to be classed as a swimming pool). Together,the water and the building make a wonderful photo opportunity – in fact, hip hop fans may recognise the image from Pharell and Snoop Dogg’s Rio-based video accompanying the single Beautiful.

Jardim Botanico is also a must-visit neighbourhood for fans of fine dining. Here you’ll find a high concentration of top-end eateries, including Olympe – widely regarded as offering the best French cuisine in Rio. Those whose budget won’t stretch to Olympe should make their way to 66 Bistro – this mid-priced, relaxed restaurant is owned by Claude Trosgrois, head chef at Olympe, and the kitchen is headed up by his son Tom. The set lunch menus here are very good value. Other top-end options include superior Chinese food at Mr Lam, mouthwatering Italian food at Quadrifologio, and pan-national dishes at Roberta Sudbrack. If money really is no option, call ahead at Roberta Sudbrack to request the 14-course degustation menu.

It’s a far cry from the designer outlets of Sao Conrado and the well-heeled boutiques of Ipanema and Leblon, but Saara – known as Rio’s Arab quarter – is one of the most interesting spots in the city to indulge in a spot of of retail therapy. Here, the therapy comes without that post-splurge guilt that can come after a major shopping spree, as there are bargains galore to be found here.

A bustling network of 11 criss-crossed streets, Saara comprises around 1,250 shops, selling everything from throw-away fashion (at these prices, you can’t expect your new purchases to last more than a couple of wears!) to specialist food stores catering to Rio’s Arab, Greek, Lebanese and Argentinian communities.

Rummaging through all the bargain stores here can work up an appetite, so it’s handy that there are dozens of restaurants here too – mostly of the pay-by-weight buffet variety, and mostly very good value. Fans of Arabic food are in for a treat – Saara boasts the highest concentration of Arab restaurants anywhere in the city, and prices are a fraction of those charged in Ipanema and Leblon.

The history of Saara stretches back to the 18th Century, when it functioned as a market selling goods to international seafarers who had just arrived in the nearby port. In the early 20th Century, an influx of immigrants from Syria, Turkey, Greece and numerous other countries saw the Saara area establish itself as a an international ‘mini-city’, and today the majority of establishments are still owned and staffed by non-native Brazilians. Head here to pick up bags, jewelry, clothes and any other bargain bits and bobs that take your fancy, and you can kid yourself that your shopping spree is a lesson in Rio history!

To get to Saara, take the Metro to Urugaiana, in Centro. The shopping action takes place in the streets around Rua da Alfandega. The shops and restaurants are open from 9am-6pm Monday to Friday, and from 9am-2pm on Saturdays. Heading here on a Sunday would be a wasted trip - everything's closed, and the area is dangerously deserted. 

With its glitzy costumes, high glamour and wanton exhibitionism, carnival in Rio is nothing if not camp. It is hardly surprising that the carnival spectacle has long held immense appeal for the city’s very visible gay, lesbian, bisexual and transvestite (GLBT) community, but until now samba schools competing in the carnival have been markedly heterosexual. The latest samba school on the carnvival block is set to change all that, bringing together talented GLBT sambistas in a bid to tackle prejudice and preconceptions about the community. The school, which goes by the rather weighty name of Gremio Recreativo Escola de Samba Arco Iris de Amor, will hold an official launch party on September 6th- Brazil’s national day of independence. Samba singer Richahs is a founding member of the group, and has strong ideas about what he wants the samba school to achieve. He says: “Gay people are part of our society. What samba school functions without the involvement of gay people? But on the other hand, many people still hold preconceptions about the gay and transvestite community, and we want to try to combat that. As a society we have to try to fight prejudice and preconceptions in whatever form – whether it’s towards blacks, people from the North East of Brazil, or gays and transvestites. The Arco Iris de Amor (the name translates as Rainbow of Love) is a real opportunity for gay people to show their face at carnival, be an official part of the event and rise above any type of preconception”.

Rio has a reputation as a gay-friendly city (although the outward appearance masks some deep-rooted prejudice among some sections of society), and it comes as something of a surprise that it is only now that a gay samba school has been founded. The rather industrial city of Belo Horizonte, in the interior state of Minas Gerais, already has its own gay samba school in the form of Baixa Santista, and January this year saw the founding of Sao Paulo’s first GLBT-only samba school. 

Eavesdrop on any conversation at any bar in Rio, and chances are you’ll soon hear talk of the ‘lei seco’ – Brazil’s new zero-tolerance drink driving law.

In a city (and, indeed, a country) where drink driving has long been considered perfectly socially acceptable, the law has come as something of a culture shock. But cariocas’ cavalier attitude towards getting behind the wheel after a few drinks had led to some alarmingly high drink driving-related mortality rates, and it was clear that something needed to change.

And, unlike the ‘smoking ban’ which is widely ignored, Cariocas do seem to be adhering to the new rules. After all, the consequences for flouting the law are severe – if breath tests show a driver has 0.1 miligrams of alcohol in one litre of air (the equivalent of less than half a pint of lager), the driver must pay a fine of over R$950. If the test shows a driver has 0.3 miligrams of alcohol in their system, the driver can face a prison sentence of anything between six months and three years.

The tough new rules may have come as something of an inconvenience to those who are accustomed to sinking a few post-work chopps before driving home, but already the statistics are encouraging. Rio health organisation Instituto Medico Legal has reported a fall in the number of deaths on the road, and the city’s hospitals have also reported a drop in the number of traffic accident victims, particularly at weekends.

It’s not all good news, of course – the change has meant a fall in profits for many bar owners, and trade has seen a swift down swing for the hordes of youths who work as unofficial parking attendants in Lapa – directing drivers to a safe spot and charging a few reais for the privilege.