It’s a coup for the city to have one of the first Brazilian restaurants in India, here in Pune. Boteco, run by Brazilian chef Guto Souzo is a place where ‘Bohemians hang out’ in the evening. It can also be a neighbourhood bar and this is exactly what Boteco, off lane 7 in Koregaon Park is. It’s a low key hangout, smart yet casual with fabulous tiled floors and custom made murals depicting life in Rio. There is an intimate air conditioned indoor section, a bright outdoor section and a fabulous fun terrace opening shortly. The kitchen even has a genuine churrasco or barbecue grill (called a churrasqueira in Portuguese).
There is no mistaking the green tiled bar in this restaurant and the importance of one particular cocktail served from it. The Caipirinha is almost the national drink of Brazil made with the spirit cachaça, lime and sugar. They also do versions with passion fruit and a Brazilio slam with coconut water. The Caipirinha is terrific, one of the best I have had in this country and for which I will certainly come back to the restaurant. Guto Souza the chef, also runs a Brazilian restaurant called Go with the Flow in Goa and has been serving up more or less the same menu there for a few years now. What is Brazilian food? I’m not sure many of us know. It seems to be a mix of European, African and indigenous ingredients. There’s a lot of meat – pork, lamb, buff and chicken; seafood on the coast, starch like cassava (tapioca) which is served both as chips as well as pureed to thicken sauces and coconut. If you visit Goa, some of the dishes will sound familiar but are much tamer than their Goan counterpart. For the first course we had Escondidinho (home-made dried meat topped with mascarpone, parmesan cheese and lightly spiced pumpkin cream). Outstanding! The Bobo de Franga de Bahia (chicken chunks in a creamy cassava sauce) and the Linguica de salmao (salmon sausage with wasabi coulis) were all terrific and made from scratch in the kitchen. For those who want something more traditional try the Camarao do Chef, golden crispy prawns topped with a chimichurri sauce – parlsey garlic and roasted red peppers blended with olive oil. For mains, we decided to try the churrasqueira barbecue – it’s a very simple concept where lightly marinated meats are grilled, sliced and served on the table. In Brazil you actually have churrasqueria speciality restaurants serving only grilled meat where the waiters move around the restaurant with the skewers. We tried a few slices of the home made pork sausage, the Belgian pork belly with crackling and the New Zealand lamb. What was really fabulous was the farofa, a dry sprinkle made traditionally with cassava, onion, garlic and bacon. Guto adds a little bit of panko breadcrumbs to give it some body and keeps it totally vegetarian here Portuguese desserts are legendary and there are a couple on the menu including quindim, a Brazilian baked custard with coconut, a condensed milk pudding and churros. We tried the profiteroles with ice cream and the almond tuile with fresh strawberries – both very good.
Would I come back to Boteco? Hell yes – for the Caipinrinha, for food with a difference and for the very personable chef. Also for Brazilian music fans, they have fabulous bossa nova throughout the evening.
WOW FACTOR: 8/10
WATCH OUT FOR: It’s on the 3rd floor of a recently completed building. It will soon have an operational terrace though.
PORTION SIZE: Each dish enough for 1 person only.
ALCOHOL: Yes, yes. Full bar license.
VEGETARIAN: Some options but not hugely exciting ones.
And not a place to bring kids.
Here’s a link to my review on Boteco published on www.whatshot.in
http://www.whatshot.in/critic-review/boteco-r-9231