Eat List: Salvador de Bahia, Brazil
The very best restaurants, acarajé vendors, caranguejo spots & markets.
If you are trying to understand the unexpected melange of cuisines – indigenous, West African, European – that strikes at the very heart of Brazilian cooking, the northern Brazilian city of Salvador da Bahia should be your first destination. The capital of Brazil at its founding and for more than 200 years after, the UNESCO World Heritage city is home to some of the country’s richest culinary traditions. There are few trendsetting restaurants here like the ones you will find in São Paulo or Rio de Janeiro, but in their place are stalls selling mashed bean fritters sold by woman in flowing white dresses, seaside eateries selling spicy seafood stews sweetened with coconut milk, and countless hidden gems serving soulful regional dishes spiced with dendê oil and malagueta peppers. Here are my picks for where to eat in Salvador da Bahia, Brazil:
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to New Worlder to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.