Curitiba Restaurants

Habib's is a fast-food chain, supposedly with 200 locations throughout Brasil and Mexico combined. It's the equivalent almost of a Burger King or Del Taco (but slightly better food!)

After passing by Habib's several times while riding a bus or in a car, I finally had an opportunity to eat there...for a friend's daughter's bday party! It was a festive atmosphere, perfect for the kids at the party, with a "play area."

Favorite Dish: The "party" fare being served was kibbe (a traditional Middle Eastern food--seasoned ground beef filling within a cracked wheat dough that is fried); Brasilian pasteles; pizza (the "International" food choice found everywhere 'round the globe); and of course, one can't truly be a fast-food restaurant without the requisite french fries!

It was just interesting to go there. While I think the food selections would be popular enough to make the chain successful in the U.S., I don't know if the "Habib's" icons would fly in oh-so-politically-correct U.S. places...it reminded me of Sambo's restaurants (remember those? with the tiger-pancakes and Sambo?)

It was just fun to check out...and cheap too, for those looking for a quick, fast-food fix.

Parana is one of the most important agricultural states in Brazil of which Curitiba is the capital and this results in a couple of excellent vegetarian restaurants in the city. Since in Brazil I eat sea food almost every day (oh, no, I'm not complaining about it at all!!) I suggested Luiz that we should try one of the vegetarian restaurants.

It was my first day in Curitiba and after the morning sightseeing we needed a short break. We met Gleyci in a restaurant Green Land and had lunch together. The place is centrally located. It has self-service buffet; you choose the dishes and can taste many different things. The price is 10 RS and you can take as much as you want.

Favorite Dish: A wide choice of vegetarian dishes is offered, from starters, soups, rice dishes, pasta dishes, grilled vegetables (aubergine, courgette, pumpkin, pepper, ochre), beans and tofu. They also have various desserts and juices (all the mixtures of two different fruits), also included in the price.

Everything that we tried was tasty & healthy!

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In Estacao Shopping Centre, in the Centre of the city, you find Bombordo restaurant. Beside being pride on its seafood menu, it's the decoration that makes this restaurant very special. Interior is nautical and reminds on boat. The place is almost a sanctuary for sea lovers. It also has an aquarium with corals, sea horses, fishes, starfishes and anemones, which is a big attraction.

They specialize on seafood. For the starter they offer seafood soup, shrimp and crab balls, oysters (natural on the shell, steamed or roasted), squid (in vinegar sauce or grilled) and shrimps (stuffed, optional with parmesan cheese, cooked in tomato sauce or steamed). For the main dish you can get various fish (grilled or cooked; with creamy shrimp, caper or passion fruit sauce), fish moqueca, shrimps (cooked with cream or 4 cheese sauce) and even some meat and pasta dishes.

An excellent self-service 'a kilo' buffet with some 22 cold and 15 warm dishes and desserts is offered from Monday to Friday at lunch time, and a la carte daily.

Favorite Dish: A farewell dinner, time to say goodbye to my very dear friends and wonderful hosts, Luiz and Gleyci, so I wanted to be something special. After a long consideration we finally decided for grilled salmon with passion fruit sauce. It was indeed a good choice, an interesting combination of fish with sweet passion fruit sauce... really delicious! We rinsed down the food with some excellent red wine from the area. Cheers!!! :))

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My friend Glauce wanted to take my Mom and I for a traditional feijoada meal. Feijaoda is the national dish of Brasil--a stew of pork, black beans, spices, etc. Usually eaten over rice with various condiments.

Glauce took us to Villa das Artes, a cozy restaurant with both indoor and outdoor seating. Owned by Marcela Ines Crespi, this restaurant opened in 2003 in the Alto da XV neighborhood, and it is housed in...literally a "house"! (See Photo #2) It looks like there is also an artist's gallery onsite, although when we went there, it was hard to tell if the gallery was open.

On Saturdays, the restaurant has a traditional feijoada buffet and live music. When we went to Villa das Artes, it was my Mom's birthday, so the musicians (and the other restaurant patrons) sang "Feliz Aniversario" to my Mom. (See Photo #3) She was so happy! (See Photo #4)

During the week, it is a restaurant/bar serving Argentine dishes (I think the owner may have lived in Argentina originally) in addition to other menu items.

Favorite Dish: There were six pots of feijoada when we arrived--some with pork, another with smoked pork, sausages, etc. (See Photo #1) They also served chicarrones on the side (my Mom's favorite snack) It was good--come hungry, as there is plenty of food!

In addition to serving feijoada, the national dish of Brasil, Villa das Artes also served the official dish of the state of Parana (where Curitiba is located)...this dish is "barreado." This is a favorite dish of mine--a beef stew cooked in a clay pot for more than 24 hours. You mix the broth from the stew with manioc flour until it is a thick paste. You put beef on top of it, spoon some rice into your dish, slice up some bananas on the side, and enjoy! For more information on barreado, see my "Morretes" page for "how to eat barreado" instructions and a funny picture of my Mom as the owner of a barreado restaurant was demonstrating how to eat barreado.

I highly recommend this restaurant as it seems to be a local favorite. Great, casual atmosphere, and when the weather is nice, a great opportunity to enjoy delicious food in their covered patio.

Curitiba is home of many university and college institutes, and many young people comes from the countryside to study there. If you talk to some of them, is very likely you would find nice restaurants and bars for lower prices. This is a tip specially made for the low budget traveler.

In front of the Polytechnic University lies Montesquieu Snack Bar, owned by Álvaro, a friendly guy always in the other side of the counter, has been home of the biggest sandwiches in town for more than 20 years. The place's retro style has not been changed so much since foundation. The main attraction of the place are the huge sandwiches named as "x-monstrinho" (chesse monster), "x-bolinho" (cheese ball - a ball of meat instead a hamburger slice) ans the famous "x-montanha" (chesse mountain). They are all very cheap and delicious, in most cases are up to BR$ 4 (US 1,5 or US 2), and the cleanliness of the ambient is a must, as Álvaro always invites customers to visit the kitchen's installations.

Favorite Dish: x montanha (chesse mountain)

My friends Luciana, Lucia and Luiz Carlos, and their Mom took my Mom and I to a casual French bistro in the Bigorrilho (Champagnat) neighborhood called Bistro Duchamps. It was a great place to relax, have drinks and food, and enjoy an evening out with friends in Curitiba.

The bistro often displays works of local artists. About three months after we visited Curitiba, our friend Lucia Paula Biscaia had a photography exhibit at Bistro Duchamps entitled "Pop Tropical Pop."

I recommend a visit to Bistro Duchamps for both the food and the relaxed atmosphere.

Favorite Dish: We ordered a variety of dishes off the menu--mussels, fresh oysters, filet mignon, bruschetta...it was a perfect mix of light and more substantial fare. It was all deliciously prepared and we enjoyed it while our friends enjoyed wine and other drinks.

My VT/Curitiba friend LBiscaia, her sister and brother-in-law, took my Mom and I to Bar Madrid because we originally planned to see a flamenco performance at a local theatre. LBiscaia is taking flamenco lessons, so she suggested that instead of watching the flamenco show (which turned out to be a student exhibition) that we go to Bar Madrid where they had a free flamenco show.

The two dancers and the flamenco guitarist were quite good! It was a nice show, and the restaurant was pretty crowded.

The restaurant is one big open space with very heavy, wooden tables. It is a very casual atmosphere, and the entire restaurant is decorated with items from Spain--posters, flags, flamenco lace scarves, etc.

It was a nice atmosphere, and a good call.

Favorite Dish: The food was great! We ordered several tapas--tortilla espanola, bacalao (cod fritters), calamari, etc. Ooohh...and I had a white sangria--yumm! I love tapas, so this was the perfect place to go--great Spanish food and an excellent flamenco show to go with it.

I went to this restaurant in January 2004 with some local friends who had never tried the restaurant before, until my travelmate and I asked if there was an Indian restaurant in Curitiba.

It may be the only Indian food restaurant in Curitiba that most people know of. Coming from Los Angeles, where there is a plethora of various cuisines, I was curious to see if Swadisht measured up to other Indian restaurants I had been to back home.

When I returned to Curitiba in November 2005, our friends took my mom and I to Bistro Duchamps, which turns out is right next to Swadisht, so I took a picture of this sign (missed it the first time around.)

Favorite Dish: The food was actually quite good. we had primarily vegetarian dishes, and the food was not too spicy (you can request level of spicyness.) The naan bread was good (always a good measure.)

For variety of food in Curitiba, Swadisht offers something unusual (i.e., different from Italian, Brasilian, German food that is found in most places in Curitiba.)

Nice atmosphere, tastefully decorated, and again, good food.

Have some cash on hand though. My travelmate and I both tried to pay with our credit cards (I even tried my debit card) and for whatever reason, the restaurant's machine was not reading our cards. Luckily we had enough cash to cover the bill, but I had to call my bank the next day to make sure my card was o.k. (they said it was, so no explanation as to why the restaurant's card machine wouldn't read or accept our charge cards.)