My First Brazilian Restaurant Experience

My first Brazilian Restaurant Experience: Cantinho Latino Restaurant

I figured since my part of the blog was about Brazilian food, I could talk about my first experience having Brazilian food. The first Brazilian restaurant I went to was called Cantinho Latino Restaurant located on Cross Ave in Elizabeth, New Jersey, just minutes away from Kean. If you are Brazilian or like Brazilian food, you are probably familiar with this restaurant. There are also other good Brazilian restaurants in Newark; however those restaurants are more expensive.

I was first exposed to Brazilian cuisine in September when I started dating my boyfriend Allan, who was born and raised in Brazil. He was used to eating Brazilian and Portuguese food a lot knew that I loved eating anything and everything, so he took me to this Brazilian restaurant one night to try. We walked in the restaurant, and as soon as the woman behind the counter saw us walk in, she started speaking to us in Portuguese. My first thought was, “Umm what is she saying to us?” Meanwhile, my boyfriend was going back and forth with her in Portuguese translating everything the two of them said for me so that I knew what was going on. It was an interesting experience. The woman made me feel more at ease when two minutes later she looked at me and told me that her husband was American and didn’t speak Portuguese.

We got a menu which was written in Portuguese but translated underneath in English. I immediately asked Allan what food was good, since I had never had any Brazilian food before. He told me that he pretty much ordered the same thing every time. Some kind of meat, usually chicken, steak or pork, grilled or fried. We ordered Bife a Cavallo which is steak with egg and a similar meal with chicken which I forget what it was called. We had Guarana, Brazilian soda to drink, and rice, beans, and yucca to go with the food. It was my first time having all this new food that I NEVER EVEN KNEW EXISTED!

I was told that meat or seafood is very common in Brazil and that almost all meals are accompanied by rice and beans (or at least rice).

For dessert we had pudim de leite condensado (pudding of condensed milk) which on the menu was translated to “Flan” in English, although I think that it tasted nothing like flan.  It was very good, don’t get me wrong, but I don’t understand how they could call it flan on the menu when the consistency and texture was clearly nothing similar. Flan has more of the texture of cranberry jelly (the jellied kind not the berry one), and the pudim de leite condensado was much denser, kind of like eating a dense carrot cake but milkier.

All in all, my first Brazilian restaurant experience was wonderful and I have since had a lot of Brazilian/ Portuguese food which I thoroughly enjoy, much like almost anything else I eat. (sad to say, but true)