REVIEW: Taste of Brazil at Carioca, Brixton

Carioca, Brixton.. we meet again! And this time for dinner! I was kindly invited back to Carioca after my review of their amazing brunch menu to test run the Taste of Brazil evening*. The Taste of Brazil evening is run every Tuesday and Thursday and invites diners to enjoy some of Brazil's best dishes in miniature form - think of it like tapas but Brazillian style.

Where: Carioca, Brixton
When: Tuesday, from 7pm
What we ate:

• Halloumi and pineapple skewers with honey
• Baby quid in tapioca flour with peri sauce
• Fresh mango, tomato and avocado salad
• Courgette and mint fritters with halloumi
• Side of plantain 

Highlights

• The courgette and mint fritters were absolutely delicious with the huge chunks of halloumi. This dish had a great mix of textures and flavours which each component working really well together. The mint and halloumi blend made me think of Greek food but the zingy spicing helped keep things very Brazilian!
• The squid was well cooked and not at all chewy. The tapioca flour coating was quite powdery which was intriguing and the peri sauce had a right kick to it. We needed quite a bit of water after!
• I really enjoyed the halloumi and pineapple skewers - these reminded me so strongly of my childhood as we would always have mild cheddar and pineapple sticks at every party! How 90s! The flavour too was a more modern update with plenty of fresh chilli to wake things up!
• The plantain was sweet, sticky and delicious. Enough said.

 
Lowlights
Not really a lowlight, but definitely not a highlight - I found the fresh avocado, mango and tomato salad a bit....boring? Ugh I hate saying this because I really rate Carioca but this salad is a bit meh compared to the rest of the vibrant menu. The mango came in massive slabs rather than smaller cubes and I could only find a few scant pieces of avocado. Even the fresh chilli couldn't wake things up. Sorry guys, this one isn't a dish I would order again. 

We finished our evening with a gorgeous walnut stack cake and chocolate torte (my guest ate these), and a STUNNING chocolate cheesecake tier cake. It's hard to describe how rich and moorish this cake was but considering I was pretty full, I found room to down the whole thing!

Overall
I enjoyed the Taste of Brazil menu at Carioca but still think the brunch is their absolute best menu. The wonderful team at Carioca make every guest feel welcome and treat them like royalty! The food is fresh and exciting so please go visit soon!

* Although I was offered a discounted price for the Taste of Brazil menu, the full price is very reasonable and well worth it. Tweet to @elliemathews1