Cafeteria Belo Horizonte

Are you brazilian and missing your country's food in Coimbra? Or are you from Portugal or any other country and want to get to know and taste what brazilians eat? Cafeteria Belo Horizonte is just the place for that.

From pães de queijo (cheese breads) to complete feijoada dishes, the restaurant is a piece of Brazil in Coimbra. You can have almost any delicacy of Minas Gerais, a brazilian state well known for its gastronomy.

What to eat

The most typical dish is pastel de vento (a fried pastry stuffed with cheese or meat, or basically anything you wish - but mainly cheese). It is crunchy, smooth and delicious - and to make everything even better - it is homemade!

In Brazil you can find pastel de vento at any farmer markets or in food booths on the streets. It is a must have dish during Festas Juninas, a brazilian traditional and catholic holiday.

Pão de Queijo is another delicacy you must eat to get to know brazilian cuisine. It is a small bread made of cheese and polvilho, a puffy flour, that makes it crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside. Cheesy a. f. Everybody loves it.

All this cheese in brazilian cuisine is due to the milk production in Minas Gerais. Brazil is one of the biggest cow breeding country in the world, and it all started in this central state. Cheeses and sweets made of milk there are amazing.

Besides cheesy delicacies, in Cafe Belo Horizonte you can have coxinhas, a typical dish from São Paulo, another brazilian state, but that is popular in the whole country. It is a fried salty cake fulled with chicken. It is shaped like a triangle to resemble a chicken leg. Really tasty.

All of this dishes are for a snack (although they can be quite heavy), and match perfectly with a bottle of beer or with Guarana, a brazilian soda made of a tropical fruit. But you can have a brazilian lunch at Cafeteria Belo Horizonte as well.

Every day there is a different brazilian dish. On wednesdays there is usually feijoada, the most famous meal in Brazil. It is made of black beans, pork meat (all kinds of it) and it is served with white rice, farofa (mandioca flour with eggs, and spices), cabbage and even fried bananas and orange slices. Simply delicious.

On the other days you can find Picanha (brazilian barbecue meat), Carne Seca with Mandioca (or manioc/cassava in english), Chicken with Quiabo (brazilian vegetable) and many more. All of this are always served with rice and beans - must haves on a brazilian meal.

If you wish for something sweet, Cafeteria Belo Horizonte also has brigadeiros, chocolate balls, and typical brazilian cakes such as "Fubá", Corn cake, Coconut cake and more.

Prices and Services

If the deliciousness of the dishes weren't good enough, the prices are really reasonable as well. You can have a pastel de vento, a pão de queijo and a beer for 4 euros, or a whole meal for 8 euros.

But nothing measures the value of tasting your home country food, or having a gastronomic experience - if you're not brazilian.

You can also expect to be greeted with lots of sympathy. Brazilians are known for being a very warm hearted people, who love to talk and welcome people. Cafeteria Belo Horizonte is owned by brazilians, so the service there reflects our welcoming culture.

Location

Cafeteria Belo Horizonte is located in downtown Coimbra, near Loja do Cidadão. It is a small place, but very welcoming, with many tables and often with nice smell of cakes and breads baking.

Being brazilian or not, you must go to this place while in Coimbra. Definetely one of the greatest restaurants in town, and great for geting to know (or remembering) brazilian cuisine.