Virtual Entrepreneur

Stephen Thompson
I’m not being facetious here, I really do think that the Brazilian kilo restaurant is one of the best things ever invented. Coming from the United Kingdom, and used to lousy food made with sour ingredients, the Brazilian kilo restaurant is a revelation. You only pay for what you actually want, and you can see exactly what you’re going to get. It’s usually delicious and it’s all the same price, rice, beans, salad, fruit, steak etc. I don’t know why this great system has not been more successful in other countries. I guess it’s because it’s just too much hard work for the restaurant owner. But Brazilians take lunchtime very seriously, and lunch is big business in Brazil.

Since wages have been falling in real terms for the last 20 odd years, Brazilians are constantly looking for ways to save money, so when the first kilo restaurants opened about 10 years ago, they were an instant success. The kilo restaurant is the perfect lunchtime meal: cheap, fast and guaranteed to be tasty, because there’s lots of competition for customers.

Kilo restaurants have become masters at tempting customers into putting more food onto their plate than they can actually eat! To start with, the lighter, bulkier fruit and salad is at the front. There is always something irresistible at the end, a steaming hot aromatic lasagna for example, that says to you ‘I’m sure you can squeeze me in!’. In São Paulo, some Kilo restaurants even serve sushi and sashimi, which is a particular favourite of mine. However, I am not a big fan of mixing sushi with rice and beans. The only thing which is sometimes not included is desert; but a slice of cake, or a caramel pudding is strategically placed and sits tempting you in the refrigerator.

The other great Brazilian restaurant experience is of course the Churrascaria, also known as Rodizio, which means rotation system. In the Churrascarias, the waiters walk round with large cuts of steak and other meat, which they cut off with huge menacing knives. In addition to meat, there is usually also a generous buffet, and the pasta counter where you can choose your fresh pasta and topping and see it being cooked.

I must admit that although the variety of food on offer at the Churrascarias is even more impressive than the humble kilo, I actually prefer the latter for its speed and simplicity. I don’t like stuffing myself with meat late at night, and Churrascarias are an even bigger temptation to overeat than kilo restaurants.

Anyway, if à la carte is more your thing, stop by at my restaurant, o Gaucho, Galleria 2001, 2001 Avenida Paulista! Sticking to the local tradition, we serve all the best cuts of steak, with rice, beans, fries and salad, and we offer a different dish of the day for each day of the week: pasta on Thursdays, fish on Fridays, rolled up beef on Mondays, and Brazilian bean stew on Wednesdays. We also have a full range of tropical fruit smoothies. Yum yum! Now I remember why I didn’t want to leave Brazil!

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