Xapuri

This is a great restaurant specializing in Mineira cuisine which is "miner's food". This is very hearty food presented as it would be at home. Fantastic ambiance in that you sit at wooden plank tables on benches under a 'thatched' roof with open sides. The place is huge and can seat well over a hundred.

For appetizers we [five of us] ordered Bolinho de Mandioca [balls of fried manioc] and a grill platter of Linguica with onions which was perfectly split and grilled.

Main dishes: a 1/2 order of Frango con quiabo [Stewed chicken in okra], Moranga [a pumpkin stuffed with dried beef and cheese and baked in the oven] which was certainly the specialty of the day as we saw it being served at many tables in many sized pumpkins. It was delicious and beautifully presented. The final entree was a Picado filet [pieces of steak in a delicious sauce]. The table was also laden down with various extras: rice, beans, vegetables and then there was the sauce and condiment tray. We ate for two hours.

We skipped the dessert [sobremesa] course which was another complete buffet. We did enjoy [included with the dinner] cups of strong Brazilian coffee, espresso quality, with cookies and cake.

The entire meal above [including tip] came to R$230.23 which converts to less than $100. Find that around here!

bloginfo: check out the website
blognote: the restaurant is a little hard to find at Rua Mandacaru - Trevo but I saw directions and map on Google