Barbecue with a Brazilian accent

Located right at the front of Central Festival Pattaya overlooking the beach, Zico’s Brazilian Grill & Bar is paradise on earth for the meat eater, offering an all-you-can-eat churrasco feast in a fun ambience.

 

The Brazilian flags clearly identify the type of cuisine served here. The Churrascaria, as a Brazilian steak house is known, offers 15 different varieties of meats as well as seafood, which revolve on giant skewers in the show kitchen, into which diners can peer through a glass panel. You can sit in an air-conditioned main dining room or opt for the alfresco area and observe the passers-by. The Brazilian-style buffet begins with breadsticks and a sampling of the 15 salads spread out at the salad bar. 

 

“Brazilian dishes please the Thai palate because they combine herbs, peanuts and coconut cream. Thais also love barbecue. The grilled meats are usually marinated with salt, black pepper and bay leaves for a distinctive flavour and fragrance,” says chef Prasith Kruenkaew.

 

At table, each diner is given a roulette-style disc that’s green on one side and red on the other. If you’re ready for the grilled meats, place the green side up and the passadors will be straight over to carve the meats right onto your plate. Show the red side if you want to be left alone.

 

The meats are marinated and coated with a variety of sauces and herbs to ensure different tastes and flavours. The standard serving is medium so if you prefer rare or well done, tell the passadors. The signature meat is Picanha (rump) and is marinated in rock salt and red wine for a day before being grilled. Strip loin is cooked with mustard and paprika while crocodile meat is prepared with Brazilian spicy sauce chumi churi, oregano, green chilli and coriander.

 

Seafood lovers will enjoy New Zealand salmon grilled with teriyaki sauce and white wine for a Japanese kick as well as the tiger prawn tossed in butter and garlic. Sea bass is cooked with pesto sauce. Other choices are rib eye, Australian lamb, pork sausage, pork neck, pork mignon in bacon, BBQ pork spare rips, duck breast, parmesan-rosemary chicken breast and chicken wings.

 

Along with the cuts of meat, try the brown sugar and cinnamon glazed grilled pineapple. The fruit, which is grown in Trat, is sweet and aromatic and can be eaten as a side dish to help digestion while the caramelised glaze gives it an exotic finish.

 

There are six choices of sauces to go with smoked meats. Prasith recommends barbecue sauce with chicken, while mustard is perfect for beef and lamb. Garlic mayo can be eaten with both fish and beef and chumi churi sauce is best with shrimp and fish. Two sauces are offered for local diners: spicy seafood and Isaan-style jaew dip with a gravy texture. 

 

A wide selection of side dishes is also on offer. Worth trying is Feijoada, a typical Brazilian bean stew prepared over low heat in a thick clay pot with black beans, pork and bacon. The dark purplish-brown broth is moderately salty but not spicy and best eaten with Arroz fried rice. Like risotto, the jasmine rice is first cooked with onion, garlic and olive oil to coat each gain in a film of fat. The coconut cream and pandanus juice are added later and have to be absorbed by the grains before being oven heated at 45 degrees Celsius for 30 minutes. The result is the pale green fragrant rice that’s topped with chopped parsley and tomato. Other options include chilli spaghetti that’s great with pork stew, sauteed vegetables and potatoes.

 

The feast is not complete without the samba queen dancers who’ve come all the way from Brazil to entertain diners. You can even join the dancing, as the pair moves round the restaurant, calling at every table. The Brazilian samba show takes place for about 20 minutes at 8 and 9pm daily except Monday.

 

After the heavy meal, you can get into the party mood at the Deck Bar & Lounge with a DJ who spins Brazil and Latin influenced house and lounge grooves. The signature cocktail is a Classic Caipirinha for Bt200 made with the Brazilian spirit Pitu and served with syrup and lime slices. Also worth trying is the Red Samba (Bt250), a blend of Cachaca rum, triple sec and strawberry puree. The Brazilian Breeze (Bt250) has orange juice muddled with lime, jazzed up with Cachaca and topped with grenadine and soda.

 

CHOICEST CUTS

>> Zico’s Brazilian Grill & Bar is at Central Festival Pattaya in Chon Buri. It’s open daily from 2.30pm to 1am. Call (038) 043 516

>> The churrascaria buffet dinner is from 6pm to 1am and is priced at Bt999 per person. It’s half price for children aged six to 12 and free for kids below. 

>> There are weekly promotions. Monday is ladies night and the price is Bt799 inclusive of a welcome fruit punch. On Tuesday, you pay Bt999 with free flow soft drink. Wednesday and Thursday is free flow beer unlimited for two hours for Bt1,199. Friday, Saturday and Sunday is free flow wine unlimited for two hours for Bt1,399. 

>> The Deck Bar is open 5.30pm to 1am.