My housemate Bonnie celebrated her birthday with what’s got to be one of the most Paleo ways of eating out: churrasco (a.k.a. Brazilian BBQ). Given most of our friends live in the Inner West, the chosen spot was Casa Brasil, which seems to have a good reputation amongst foodies.
The deal here is similar to other churrasco restaurants, except that the salads and sides are not brought to the table, but await for you in a buffet kind of setting, and that there’s no green/red signs to indicate whether you want to continue eating, or you’re done. I think it’s a pretty good system, simpler for them and for customers who are new to the concept.
Service deserves a special mention in this review, not only all staff members were super attentive, informative and friendly (bonus points for the Colombian waiter) but they exceeded all expectations by rinsing the birthday cake container before we left.
Now, let’s talk about the food. Sides were good, it was nice to see a lot of vegetables as opposed to just rice, beans and tubers. There were green leaves, garden salad, potato salad, cooked carrots, cooked zucchini, fried bananas, fried polenta, farofa (roasted cassava flour), fried cassava, potato chips, rice, black beans, and garlic bread. I was very happy with the variety of sauces provided: aioli, chimichurri, chilli, and pico de gallo.
Sides
Salads and sauces
My (first) plate of sides
We had been warned that sausages were not gluten-free, and so got a bit disappointed when the two first meat rounds were sausages. Luckily, we were soon fed chicken thighs, lamb, rump, flank, pork neck, chicken hearts, etc. On the seafood front, we were fed very tasty prawns and fish. Everything was tasty but to be honest I think Bah BQ has better meats.
Pork sausages
Chicken thighs
Lamb
Chicken
Beef
Beef
Rump
Chicken hearts
Beef
Prawns
When we declared we could not fit any more meat in our bellies, we were served the traditional round of grilled pineapple in preparation for… birthday cake! Yes, we pigged out and had cake (and walked back home).
Grilled pineapple
Paleo chocolate birthday cake
Casa Brasil
77 New Canterbury Rd
Petersham NSW 2049
(02) 9560 9595
www.casabrasil.com.au
Wow, what a meat fest! Not sure I could eat that much meat these days…the salads looks good.
Yumm I love churrasco but I require some serious stomach preparation beforehand! haha!
In a way, I find it kinda sad that Casa Brasil have had to start serving churrasco, but it looks like a good spread and a lot less confusing than their old alternating petiscos/a la carte menu. Looks like a good spread!
Man I always need to pace myself when it comes to these types of things so i can fit more in LOL
Ooh those condiments look so good to me right now! I love how a good salsa verde can lift a heavy meat dish. What, pray tell, is in a paleo birthday cake?
Cocoa powder, coconut flour, baking powder, cinnamon, eggs, honey, vanilla extract, and coconut oil/macadamia oil/butter. Icing is 85% chocolate, coconut milk and double cream. Getting hungry now!
The birthday dinner looks good, but loving the ingredients you have put up above for the Paleo birthday cake. Hoping this will be a future blog Gaby
Sara, I got the recipe from here: http://www.thehealthychef.com/2012/09/naked-chocolate-cake/
I made it with butter for my birthday, my housemate made it with macadamia oil.