Blog of the Morning Calm: Salvador

We had very high expectations of the food in Bahia, as it is known for being flavoursome, punchy and spicy. The food we tried there was good, definitely more variety of flavours than the standard options in Rio...but it didn't blow my mind. Maybe we ate too much incredible food on our travels through Asia, but Brazilian food just isn't standing up.

What we know of Brazilian food in the UK is meat, barbecue, and more meat. So if that's what is worth exporting then maybe it's the only thing that really translates to people outside of the Brazilian lifestyle and culture. And of course, Brazilian barbecue is incredible and we haven't had beef that was anything short of brilliant here so this reputation is definitely well deserved. I'm just not sure there is too much else I will miss (food-wise) when we leave, unlike the numerous Korean dishes that I pine for on a weekly basis!

Anyway, let's put my snobbishness aside while I tell you about what we ate in Bahia! We decided to dive straight in and go to a highly recommended buffet for our first big meal in Salvador. The restaurant is catered by a cooking school and offers a lunch and dinner buffet of a huge variety of traditional Bahian dishes. Slopping different stews onto our plates was never going to result in pretty photos, but I have included one because it showcases an unusual ingredient. On the left you can see some farofa, which was much yellower than the kind we have been served in the rest of Brazil. This is because it has been fried in a different kind of oil - dende oil. This oil is red/orange in colour and is made from the fruit of the oil palm tree. It is a traditional African ingredient and very widely used in Bahian cooking. It has a distinctive, musty flavour and adds a wonderful colour to the dishes it is used in.

The problem with eating at these buffet restaurants is that between us we try so many different dishes that it becomes really hard to keep track of what we ate, what it was called and what it tasted like. Making notes is always helpful but even then it becomes a bit of a blur when there is just so much to remember! What I do recall is that there was a lot of okra, which I love, Dave had some stewed mussels which was unusual and generally the food was tasty.

These next two photos aren't of particularly amazing food, but I'm including them for comic reasons. See, we're used to portions in Brazil often being enough to feed two people, even when it isn't explicitly stated on the menu, and we tend to use price as a guideline. We know roughly at what point a meal costs enough that it will feed us both...but Rio is an expensive city in Brazil so it turns out this method isn't transferable to Salvador! At one particular bar I ordered a portion of escondidinho (it can be made with a variety of meats, topped with cheesy mashed cassava - basically a Brazilian cottage pie!) and Dave got an octopus salad. If there had been four of us we might have just managed to eat everything but even with Dave's massive appetite, the two of us ended up leaving a lot. I hate wasting food, but sometimes it just can't be helped.

Moving on, this is a meal we had by the seafront in Salvador, after visiting Bomfins church. It was from a very popular quiosque and we ordered what looked to be the most popular combination of dishes. On the left you can see a salad of green tomatoes, onion and coriander, next to some sun-dried meat and a couple of pieces of juicy pork. This was served with a big bowl of cheesy purée de mandioca (cassava puree/mash) and some very hot chilli sauce. We washed it down with a local beer called Schin.

One very typical Bahian dish that we tried and really enjoyed was moqueca. This is a fish stew flavoured with coconut milk, tomatoes, coriander and dende oil. The fish was on the bone which made it a little annoying to eat but it was a lovely meal nonetheless. We ate it in Lençois in a very lovely restaurant called Quilombola and were given a free caipirinha and great service. On the left of the photo you can see a bowl of orange stuff. This was a weird, gloopy side dish made from cassava (of course!) and dende oil. I wasn't too keen but it was really unusual and gelatinous.

This is a plate of food we had on one of our tours in Chapada Diamantina. It was pretty standard but there was one noteworthy item that we had not seen before. At the bottom right-hand side of the photo are some small green pieces of cactus. This had been cooked with, I assume, some garlic and onion to produce a lovely little side dish that we have not eaten before or since. There was nothing particularly special about the flavour or texture though, and I would liken it to eating slightly overcooked green beans, in a good way.

I am feeling guilty for being so harsh earlier so below is a picture that I have titled "A Tribute to Brazilian Banquets". We ate this particular feast sitting outside on one of the main streets of Lençois, at a lovely restaurant called Lampião. It was a simple affair of rice, beans, beautifully cooked steam, grilled onions and pineapple. I have had barbecued pineapple a couple of times here and have falled completely in love with it! I hope it works with the tough, woody pineapples we get at home because I need it in my life forever.

Last but by no means least I want to tell you about a restaurant I fell in love with in Lençois. On our first night there we walked past this place and were given a voucher for two free caipirinhas by a very charismatic and friendly waiter - #winning! So the next night we went to claim them and boy am I glad we did! The place was playing funky music and had some comfy outdoor seating on the pavement, from which we watched two hippies and an old man play panpipes and a guitar whilst serenading us in Spanish. The caipirinhas we got were the best passion fruit ones we have ever had and the pizza we order was a wonderful twist on a classic - ham, pineapple and mango! What with charming waiter and fantastic atmosphere, is it any wonder we nicknamed this place "Jamie's Italian"?! Of course the real name is el Jamiro and they didn't just serve Italian food but a whole range of dishes so it's well worth a visit if you're ever in the neighbourhood!

The capital of the state of Bahia and a port city with one of the longest histories in the country, Salvador felt very different to anywhere else we have been in Brazil. With a significant African influence due to the slave trade that was perpetuated through the city, it really is an interesting place to visit. People’s skin tone is noticeably darker than anywhere else we’ve been and the traditional clothing and music is more African.

We arrived late at night and our taxi journey gave us a feel for what this city was about. As we exited the airport, we drove through a bamboo tunnel, which was a lovely (if a little odd) introduction to the city. Passing through the suburbs, it felt like any other large Brazilian city with the theme of “lovely condominiums, some mid-range housing, favela, common housing, lovely condo, etc.” We arrived at about 3am to our hotel in the Pelorinho area, which at that time of night felt a little intimidating as it seems to be the drunks/homeless who wander these streets at night.

With a few hours of sleep under our belts, we had breakfast overlooking one of the plazas/praças/squares. We then headed out of the Pelorinho area to the famous Elevator Lacerda, which costs 15 cents (3p!) to ride and leads down to the port and market below. It was a fun ride and quite an interesting piece of civil engineering and architecture.

The Modelo Market is a very cool place, full of artwork, clothes and the usual tat. I have spoken about this before but I definitely prefer the vibe in Brazilian markets compared with Asian ones – a lot less hassling and they are generally less busy. At this particular market there were some capoeira dancers/fighters and we stopped to enjoy the show for a bit.

We then walked around the picturesque Pelorinho area, taking in the multi-coloured homes that line the cobbled streets of this old, colonial looking part of the city. It was a cool place to explore by foot and we seemed to stop every few minutes to watch the capoeiristas, drink a delicious juice, look at another beautiful church etc. It’s a lovely area to spend a day in. The colourful colonial buildings never get boring to look at.

We spent one evening in the Barra area of the city, which seemed like a lively place to be on the coast. We visited a lighthouse (Farol da Barra) and watched yet another sunset from the bank of the hill. It was a totally different atmosphere to the sunsets in the jungle (obvs!) – young people brought guitars and drums, playing music as the sun sank in the sky. Everyone clapped when the sun did its business and finally disappeared, which we have experienced before and quite enjoy.

The view from the lighthouse

We then went to a nearby bar/restaurant to grab some food and watch the Copa America final. Except all the bars were showing a local Bahian derby, from the second division! I have no doubt that if Brazil had made the final, they would all have been watching…but they didn’t, so nowhere showed it. Pretty flaky really, as it was the Copa America and even in the UK it would have been on in pubs, at least on one screen. Anyway, since it went to extra-time and penalties, we did catch some of it and the crowd were at least happy that Argentina lost.

We spent some time at Bonfim Church, which is the holiest church in Salvador. And that’s saying something, since there are more churches than sins in that city! The outside was nothing spectacular but inside people had displayed photos of loved ones who had died or were ill. There were also replica body parts hanging from the ceiling, as people believe in mythical curative powers in this finely decorated church of concrete and glass. Another interesting tradition at this church is the tying of ribbons, or "fitinhas", around a person's wrist or the gates of the church. The legend says that the ribbon is to be tied with three knots, each one representing a wish. The ribbon must never be cut, and when it finally falls off on its own the wishes will be granted. We didn't partake in this but did appreciate the colourful decorations around the church.

We decided to spend our final night at a typical Bahian music show that had been recommended to us by our hotel, although it wasn't what what we were expecting at all! It turns out we had inadvertently gone to a rock gig full of Salvador’s youth and old rockers. It was amusing, considering we thought we were going to see a traditional show and so were unprepared for the late night and thumping crowd, and it turned out to be a fun way to end our time in Salvador.

We didn’t spend a lot of time in Salvador but we saw enough to know we want to go back and explore more, especially the nearby town of Praia do Forte. Salvador’s vibrant and musical nature was everywhere to be seen and we really got sucked into it. Even a wheelie bin being dragged down a cobbled street sounded like the beating of a drum. It was is a cool place and the only city we have visited (except for Rio) that we think is a must-see in Brazil so far.