How We Spent 4 nights in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil

How We Got There…

We flew from Buenos Aires to Rio De Janeiro on Business Class on British Airways using Avios that we had collected via various means.

Upon arrival at Buenos Aires Ezeiza International Airport (EZE), we discovered there was no fast track for Business Class through security. What?!? Or at least not at the time we were passing through. Luckily, the queue moved relatively fast.

When we got to immigration/passport control there only one counter open. Unfortunately the person on the counter was a very chatty one.  I can appreciate that some people like to engage with other human beings but when a long line is forming is that really the time and the place? They seemed to not care as to the backlog of passengers building. The growing crowd however did. Unrest started to build in the emerging queue, some started dangerously heckling. I say dangerously as there are some people you just don’t mess with in life. Immigration officers are in that bucket especially.  Gradually more immigration officers arrived.  With the combination of security and immigration it took well over an hour to get airside.

My husband had done his research on the airport lounges and identified the Centurion Lounge as the best of an alright bunch.  That’s where we went, collecting a McDonalds Breakfast sandwich on the way.

They were not a McMuffin as they were on rolls. They were still tasty and just what we needed.

Where We Stayed – The Hilton Copacabana

Our elected residence whilst in Rio De Janeiro was the Hilton Copacabana Beach. This was due to us being Hilton Honors Gold Members through American Express Platinum card.

Originally, we had booked the one at Barra but we realised that for our first time in Rio we needed to be closer to the main attractions. In a last minute panic the week before we were due to leave for South America, we changed to the Hilton in Copacabana.

Upon check in, due to our Gold member status, we had the option of points or free breakfast. Of course we took the free breakfast.  In addition to this, we also received four complimentary waters but unfortunately no room upgrade.

The Junior Suite

We booked a junior suite with an ocean view. We were allocated a room on the 12th floor. Once I realised that there were 39 floors, I was somewhat disappointing. I have since updated my preferences on the Hilton app to request higher floors.

The room itself was spacious. There was a corridor from the entrance door into the main bedroom. This area had a good sized wardrobe housing an ironing board, iron plus shelving, hangers and a safe. Off the corridor, was a large bathroom. This has a double sized bath tub with whirlpool and a shower with glass sliding doors. The vanity was also an ample size with two sinks and lots of storage for toiletries. 

The bedroom had a king sized bed and a small table with two chairs. Plus there was a desk, tv, coffee making facilities and a well stocked mini bar.

The decor in the room was a little dated and tired. The size of it plus the large window with a direct view of Copacabana beach allowed us to excuse this.

The 38th Floor of the hotel had a good sized gym with a variety of exercise machines. There was also a swimming pool on the 4th floor. 

The Breakfast

When we went for breakfast on our first morning (also found on the 4th Floor), we were escorted to the dedicated dining area for gold and diamond members. In this area guests were served coffee at the table rather than having to get up and serve themselves. 

Breakfast was presented in the usual buffet format but with some interesting food on offer. One morning there was a big bowl of onion sauce and chicken nuggets. Another morning there was a meat and pasta stew alongside Calabrese sausages.

There was also the option to have an omelette made at a dedicated station. For the first two mornings we just had coffee and orange juice. We wanted to save ourselves for sampling food whilst we were out and about. 

On the third morning we requested a couple of fried eggs. We made toast at the self serve toaster. The butter as expected, was ridiculously hard and difficult to spread. It lay in small clumps until the warmth of the egg spurred it on to melt.

The eggs were perfectly cooked with a nice crispy bottom and a runny golden yolk.

The hotel also has an area on Copacabana beach, where they provide lounges, towels and umbrellas. This is where we spent most of our final day. Relaxing after our non-stop tour of South America.

When it finally came to check out, there was only one person on the desk at peak time. This was little frustrating as this point you just want to leave and get the airport swiftly.

Overall, we enjoyed our stay. The location was fantastic for getting around Rio. Hopefully, the hotel will get a much need renovation in the near future.

What We Did and What We Ate…

Isabel Lounge

For our first evening in Rio, we decided to head up to the 39th floor of the Hilton to the Isabel Lounge.

We did a recce after our arrival, which was just ahead of sunset.  It was busy but we were assured that later on we wouldn’t need a reservation.  At that time there was an Ibiza type vibe going on.  People were either in the roof top pool or lounging around on the sofas around the bar area. All they needed to complete the scene was a DJ banging out some tunes.

When we returned later in the evening, things were thankfully somewhat calmer.  We ordered a couple of Margaritas but stressed that we wanted them without Passion Fruit as per the menu.  I think we might have gone overboard in making this clear to the waiter. When the drinks were delivered to our table, the lady who served us presented them as Passion Fruit Margaritas and then broke out into a massive smile.  She was just playing with us.

The Margaritas were strong (which is good) and very tart with limes.  Very reviving after a day travelling.

All the people that worked in the “Lounge” that evening were super friendly and helpful.  We managed to work through our appalling Portuguese to place an order of the following:

1. 180g of Grilled Shrimp with Garlic, Oil and Lemon. The dish arrived in a little terracotta bowl with toasted focaccia on the side. It was a generous portion of succulent prawns and the sauce was perfect for dipping the crispy bread.
2. Shrimp Tempura with Red Berry Sauce. The tempura batter was perfectly crunchy and the prawns were big and juicy.
3. Chicken Stick, which came with a lemon and chimichurri mayonnaise.  The chicken came in long breaded strips that were dry and definitely needed the accompanying sauce.
4. Finally we had an obligatory portion of fries. These came in a mini wired frying basket. They were a decent sized portion with a McDonalds consistency.

To finish off we has a Caipirinha cocktail, which was refreshingly limey.

Walk Around Leblon and Ipanema

We started our first full day in Rio by getting an Uber to Mirante do Leblon.  This is one of land level view points within Rio where you can see spectacular views of the coast line from Leblon to Pedra do Arpoador.

We then made our way along Leblon beach and after a couple of junctions turned into Leblon so that we could check out the restaurant we had booked for that evening.

Whilst walking through Ipanema from Leblon, we spotted a cute bakery, Nema Padaria.  This bakery specialised on Portuguese baked goods and bread.

We purchased a Sonho Recheado with Nutella.  This was like a doughnut but it only had a dusting of icing sugar and wasn’t deep fried.  So a somewhat healthy doughnut. It was very slightly dry but the smooth chocolate filling helped to moisten.

The bakery had a good selection of bread including focaccia.  They also had different variations of Pastel de Nata as well as the usual flavour.

We continued to wonder the streets between Leblon and Ipanema, which are full of interesting restaurants.  Finally we arrived at a Gelateria called Vero, which I had on my list to visit.

There was an unusual selection of ice cream and sorbets.  Some of them were labelled in Italian and others in Portuguese.

My husband majored in the sorbets as he likes a more fruity flavour.  However, for the three scoops that he chose he felt that they lacked flavour and served purely as a coolant in the afternoon heat.

I chose strawberry with lemon zest and another one that translated to popcorn. The former was a fruity delight and the latter was a creamy and sweet vanilla with hints of caramel.

Pao de Acucar (Sugar Loaf Mountain)

Everything that I had read about visiting the Sugar Loaf Mountain in Rio de Janeiro suggested that the best time to do this would be sunset. As always, although I had built up an itinerary way ahead of time, I had left the final details of ticket booking to the last minute.  When I was searching on Google about buying tickets, websites like Viator and TripAdvisor were only showing options for the following day.

By inputting Pao de Acucar into a Google search rather than Sugar Loaf Mountain, I was able to find the direct website for booking cable car tickets.  On this website, I was able to book tickets for the current day.  I opted for Fast Track ticket as I didn’t want to risk not getting to the top of the Sugar Loaf for sunset.  As according to a number of reviews I had read, this could be an extremely busy time.   

The tickets in total for two people cost about £90.  Booking online required the creation of an online account and inputting passport information but other than that was fairly straightforward.

We were visiting in Rio during Autumn and arrived at Sugar Loaf Mountain around 4pm. Sunset was due around 17:30 and the queues were small. Perhaps, we hadn’t needed the Fast Track.  However, it did allow us to bypass the queue for the first cable car. We were given two small bottles of chilled water and a red armband that’ll distinguished us from the standard ticket holders.  After that and probably due to the time of year, the fast track ticket wasn’t necessary.

When we departed on the first cable car, our initial impression of the view was “Wow”.  That is until we took the second cable car to the second mountain.  Then it is a whole other level.  Each cable car takes three minutes to get up and down the mountain.

The 360 degree views of Rio are spectacular. Just when we thought it couldn’t be any more amazing the sun began to set.

This was by far my best experience in Rio de Janeiro, if not the best one in our whole South America trip..

Nam Thai – Leblon

Nam Thai was our chosen restaurant for our second night in Rio. I found it via TripAdvisor.  It ranked highly in Asian restaurants (not that you can always trust the reviews on platforms such as TripAdvisor).

We arrived at the restaurant bang on time for our reservation of 7.30pm.  The waiter led us to a window seat at the front of the restaurant, which was a great spot.  We immediately ordered a couple of refreshing Bohemia Patagonia Pilsner beers (now one of my favourite beers).

For starters we ordered…

Gai (Chicken) Satay and Poh Pia Jung (Prawn Spring Rolls).

The grilled chicken arrived on skewers with a separate delicious peanut sauce, which you could add as you desired to the meat.  The chicken was impeccably succulent.

The prawn spring rolls were crammed with filling. As well as a good amount of shrimp, there were rice noodles and shiitake mushroom.

For mains we ordered…

Khao Pad Bai Kaprow, which was a delicious and moist fried rice with chicken.  This came with a small amount of red chillies, very thinly sliced.  It also had a well cooked fried egg on top.  This had a crispy underneath and had a gooey runny yolk.

Gaeng Moo Tai Po, this was a tasty Thai red curry with a mild spicy coconut sauce. It came with a nicely tender pork fillet and spinach.

Alongside this, was a bowl of superb sticky rice, which the sauce when poured on clung too.

Christ The Redeemer

After a little research, we thought the best way for us to visit Cristo Redentor would be to get an Uber to the Trem do Corcovado and then get the train up to the top of the mountain.

We did consider the alternatives.  One being the hike, but we put off this for three reasons. The varied duration reported by different blogs. Some said it would be as little as an hour others said as much as three hours.  There had been reports of muggings on the trail. Lastly we had a low risk appetite regarding mosquitoes. Being bitten and ending up with Dengue Fever was not on our itinerary.

Another alternative was getting a group tour bus up but that wasn’t for us.

I purchased tickets directly on the Trem do Corcovado website. The tickets cost approx £30 for two people and covered the cost of train and entrance to Christ The Redeemer.  When booking online, I had to create an account for the site.  I also had to provide my passport number. It’s possible to book on the day you want to visit but you do have to provide a scheduled time for your visit. These are every 20 minutes from the hour. 

It was only once I had booked the ticket, that I was made aware that you have to check in 30 minutes prior to the scheduled time you have selected.

At the train station we joined the queue to get our physical tickets.  This was at just after ten on a Thursday morning. There were only a few people ahead of us.  For collecting the tickets, I had to show the online receipt plus photo ID.

After collecting the tickets, we then joined another queue for the train. Whilst in this queue, the staff at the train station were trying to get people to have a photo in front a photo of Christ the Redeemer.  We had to refuse multiple times before we were allowed to continue on to the train.  

It didn’t matter that we were booked on the 10:40 AM train.  We were permitted to jump on the 10:20 AM with no challenge. The train itself was busy but we managed to get some fold down seats by the door. This meant we could get off easily at the other end.

As we took the steady 20 minute train journey up to the top of the mountain the clouds began to gather.  By the time we reached the top, there was little visibility of the city below.  

Thankfully we could still see the enormous statue of Cristo Rendentor so the trip up was worth. 

As it didn’t seem that the clouds would disperse ant time soon, we decided to head back down.

The return journey was not an enjoyable one.  In the waiting area, everyone was crammed in like sardines.  As we queued to board the train, the people who worked there were trying to get the visitors to buy the photograph taken earlier (the one with photo of Christ the Redeemer).  To do this, they pushed through the crowd trying to match faces to the images and then hustled with people.  They seemed to have little regard for whether they were pushing everyone else of their way.  

Within the crowd, a lot of people had started drinking even though it was not long after 11 AM. It was also a boisterous gathering.  

When we finally boarded the train it was rammed, with people stood in the aisles.  It was really hot and humid and the ride down took over 30 minutes as we had to let two train pass us on their way up.  At this point the hike seemed like it would have been a better idea!

When we checked out of the hotel on our last day, the guy on reception told me that apparently there is a web cam where you can check the view up there before you decide to go. If only we’d known!

La Bicyclette – Jardim Botânico

After Christ the Redeemer, we headed to near the Botanical Gardens. Our target destination was a little bakery found through my research called La Bicyclette.

They had a varied range of pastries and cakes, which looked scrumptious. After a quick browse we knew that we had to try some of these.  We sat at one of the tables outside and were offered a QR code to see the menu in English.  This place didn’t just do baked goods, it also offered a wide range of breakfast items and sandwiches.

We stuck to ordering some cakes.  Unfortunately the one I really wanted to try which was Apple, Walnut and Cinnamon was only available as a large cake.  I had to change to something else and chose Orange and Almond cake.  

Something got lost in translation as I ended up with an Almond Croissant.  I just went with it and it was nice but not quite as good as the one that I had eaten in São Paulo.  The pastry wasn’t as soft and fluffy and was more flaky.

My husband ordered an apple tart and crostine. The crostine was twisted delicate filo pastry integrated with little bursts of chocolate. It was a much lighter alternative to a pain au chocolate.

The apple tart was simply delightful.  The firm yet soft slices apple sat in a perfect sticky glacé on a bed of solid yet almost biscuity base. It teamed well with the coffee he had ordered.  He had triumphed on his selection that day.

Along with this I chose a Pink Lemonade.  This was like having a fruity mojito without the alcohol.  There were full pieces of raspberry and blackberry in it.

Rodrigo de Freitas Lagoon

We needed to walk off all of our pastries so headed straight for a walk around the Rodrigo de Freitas Lagoon.  What a fabulous place with more amazing views of different aspects of the city.  For the part we covered (north and east), there were cycle and walking lanes following the shoreline of the lagoon.  Every now and then I couldn’t resist stopping to capture the landscape/cityscapes unfolding before my eyes.

It was a peaceful walk, with a small number of fellow pedestrians and slightly more cyclists.  Along the way we saw a range of birds including a number of what I think were the Little Egret.  

Fogo De Chao – Botafogo

We booked Fogo de Chao after a recommendation from a trusted colleague who had visited Rio ahead of us in early 2024. Information on the format and pricing were limited. I hadn’t asked the person who recommended enough questions but only realised this on the day of our reservation.

We just had to go with it by this point. Upon arrival at the restaurant we were seated promptly in close proximity to the buffet salad bar, which was abundant with produce.

The first waiter brought us menus.  He didn’t speak English and we already know our level of Portuguese (basic -5). We were not left with the menus.  Instead we were allowed a quick glance, during which I managed to clock that the barbecue alone was going to cost RS$218 (approx £35 each).

The menu was then swiftly turned over to drinks.   At this point, I think we were offered cocktails and beer.  We went for beer.  We had no idea of the price of these.

It was explained to us via demonstration that the little beermat sized cards on the table had a red and a green side.  Green to indicate you were open to meat being provided and red to put a stop to it.

Then our first waiter vanished in a puff of smoke or so it seemed. We waited for our beers to arrive whilst taking a moment to observe our fellow diners.  During this time we learnt, waiters who are constantly weaving their way around the tables will once they have clocked a green card present a skewer or tray of meat to you.  There is a brief announcement of what it is but you have to make a quick decision as to whether you are going to accept.  If the meat is on the skewer, you then use the little metal tongs provide on a side plate to help retrieve the meat from the server and place on your own dinner plate.

When the beers had arrived, they were placed in their own little ice bucket.  Cute!

During the seating process, I had been offered to place my bag on the seat next to me. I declined.  As I was gearing myself up to venture to the salad bar, I decided it was probably best that I did but my bag on the spare seat.  Upon doing so, one of the waiters promptly covered the bag with a table cloth like sheet to disguise its presence and I guess make it harder for the bag to be stolen.  Odd!

We were presented with a small bowl of some Pão de queijo and some other floury product that looked and tasted like savoury churros. The cheese bread was warm. This was our first time of trying it in Brazil. It was good. The cheese was the right balance so that you were aware of its presence but not overpowered. The bread itself was soft but not doughy.

We finally made our way to the salad bar.  There was an excellent selection of pretty much any salad that you could want. With fresh produce including some vegetables like broccoli. The potato salad was creamy and there was a cold chicken salad that was tasty. I also enjoyed the mini quail eggs. One of the items, I wish I had swerved was the slices of what I believe to be garlic bread. They were extremely tough, which is not a word you want to use in the same sentence as bread.

Before we got into the barbeque, we ordered some garlic mash potatoes and chips.  When the chips arrived they were actually fried potato chips. In England, we would call them crisps.  They were nice but not what I was expecting.  The garlic mash had a nice creamy flavour but with a few lumps and not sure it had seen any garlic.

And then we let the frenzy of meat begin. No sooner than you have lifted the coaster to turn it from red to green, was the first server looming over you with a threatening skewer of meat. Having not registered what they have on offer you panic and accept. 

Our first meat was possibly Sirloin. Then came the next tray of meat containing pork ribs. All we could say whilst still chewing on the last piece of meat was “why not?”

After this came some chicken leg, with nice and crispy skin.

Then we had what we think were sweetbreads. Never to be eaten again. The texture is not something I have known before. Although vaguely similar to the snails, which I ate when I was drunk in Amsterdam a number of years ago.  I woke up the next day and to my horror realised what I had done.

Then we were presented with some spicy sausage. This was way too hot for my liking.

Next up was some rib joint. The meat was melt in the mouth but lacked any real flavour. This was followed by steak flank or may be top sirloin, who knows.  Or maybe even both, it all happened so fast. By this point the meat sweats were starting to kick in and then we felt like everything was beginning to blur into one.

Along with the meat we had ordered a bottle of red Malbec.  Apparently every time my head was turned a waiter came and topped up my glass.  I was totally unaware of this but they were obviously trying to encourage the completion of the bottle as soon as possible.

Every now and again during the course of the meal a couple of waiters would break into a rendition of “Happy Birthday” in Portuguese for any table where one of the guests was celebrating.

In summary,  we were glad we experience this and a lot of the food was of a reasonable quality.  The whole meal did feel a little rushed and I don’t think we completely took advantage of the all you can eat buffet.  We were definitely amateurs compared to some of the other diners.

Sorveteria Momo Gelato at Copacabana Palace

After a day cloud bathing on Copacabana beach as there was no sun, we gave it up as a bad job and went on the hunt for some ice cream.

This gelataria, Sorveteria Momo Gelato is located in the magnificent building of Copacabana Palace Hotel. The servers were morose and lacked any enthusiasm to perform their job of serving ice cream.

  

Payment was taken ahead of selection of the ice cream. Even though the cashier and the ice cream server were stood no more than a metre apart, for some reason you had to show your receipt to the server.  I could understand this if it was a busy time but when we were there we were the only people at the counter.

For us non Portuguese speakers, we hadn’t understood that there was a different price for some of the ice cream flavours, which were their “specials”.

We paid for two tubs with three scoops, only to find out that some of the flavours we were after were only available if you paid more. So it was back to the happy go lucky cashier to pay the extra to be able to proceed with the server. 

We both had one scoop of Romeo e Juliana, which I thought might be the same as the flavour I had a couple of days before from Vero. It was slavered with fruity thick sauce

My husband also has fragola and mango, which were both refreshingly fruity.

I had pistachio persa, which was deliciously nutty and creamy. The real star of the show for me was my last selection Momo Bambino, this was a magnificent mix of vanilla, slavers of chocolate, chocolate and nuts. I wish I had asked for this as my first scoop so it could be savoured at the bottom of the tub. Instead I had to navigate around it so that it was the last mouthful.

Mr Lam

Mr Lam was another restaurant that I became aware of from TripAdvisor, like Nam Thai.

It is also named in the Michelin Guide.  Having had a meat feast the night before at Fogo De Chao, we wanted some oriental food.  We looked through the menu before our booking and visit, everything sounded amazing. 

Located near the Rodrigo de Freitas Lagoon, we took an Uber from the Hilton where we were staying which took about 20 minutes.  

The outside of the restaurant with its black heavy imposing doors gave an upmarket feel.  Once we had confirmed our reservation with Maitre De we made our way to the table. This was situated on the 2nd Floor (of three) with views over the nicely lit lagoon. When we arrived at 7.30pm, there was only one other table of about 6 people on the 1st floor and one on the 2nd floor.  The restaurant started to fill up quickly after that. 

There was a little comedy sketch at the beginning.  We were seated at banquette seat with a table and then a separate seat.  The waiter pulled out the table so that the person intending to sit at the fixed seat could get in.  This is always my husband’s seat so he can survey the room. They then pulled out the non fixed seat.  In my haste, I immediately sat down.  Then my husband sat down and they then had to move the table in.  I then had to get up so they could move my chair in.

And so it begins…

We were handed the menus with the waiter speaking in Portuguese.  We asked “Voce fala Ingles” to which he answered “a little”.  This to me meant “depends what you are going to ask me”.

For drinks we ordered Bohemian Beer and some still water.

To start we ordered the Chicken Spring Rolls, Shrimp Prawn Rolls and Xiao Long Bao.

The spring rolls arrived first, both were accompanied by sweet and sour sauce. We noted that there was no soy sauce provided.  The chicken spring rolls were not anything like what we had anticipated.  They were like eating a chicken and cheese pasty.  Other than the shape and the deep fried filo pastry with sesame seed at each end, there really was nothing Oriental about them.

The Shrimp Spring Rolls on the other hand were delightful.  When they first arrived, they were an extremely hot temperature. Whilst they cooled down we got stuck into the chicken, which really should have been given up as a bad job.  Once they had reached a temperature that wasn’t going to take off a layer of the inside of our mouths, we proceeded to devour.  They were literally packed full with the juiciest prawns and gave Singapore airport lounge a run for its money and that is really saying something.  Like the chicken version, they were dipped in sesame seed at each end but these did feel truly Chinese.

It went down hill from there on in.  

The last starter we order was Xiao Long Bao.  They lacked the juicy soup and a plain meaty flavour. Instead they were over seasoned with pepper and not even the black vinegar could save them

Once we were finished with the starters along came the mains. I ordered the Peking chicken and my husband ordered the Filet Mignonette Beef. Both were pricey, especially the beef.

Along with this we ordered egg fried rice.  Whilst I had been in the lavatory, one of the waiters had returned to the table to inform my husband that this also contained shrimp.  This was not a problem for us but maybe the restaurant should consider a menu  update to state this.

Both the chicken and steak dishes were massive but then for the price they should be.  Where do I start in terms of each as both were a huge disappointment. The meat of the beef dish was melt in the mouth but was short on any distinctive flavour and was horrendously bland.  We felt we had to eat as much of it as we could because of the cost.  It had most of the key ingredients, onions, peppers and black beans but where was the garlic and the much needed seasoning.

The Peking Chicken, which when we have tasted anywhere else but mainly in the UK normally comes with a peanut fruity sweet sauce.  In this version, there were cashew nuts scattered alongside the diced chicken.  The sauce again lacked substance and flavour.  

The chef had made an attempt at some kind of sweet sauce but again the diner was left wanting more.  Not wanting to end up with a projectile vomit situation, I had to leave.

Throughout the whole meal, we felt like we were under direct scrutiny from the waiting staff.  As soon as we cleared a plate, it was removed.  The moment we sipped some water it was refilled.  Could they lip read?  We thought absolutely yes.  We kept our conversation to a minimum which meant that we barely enjoyed the meal (not just because of the taste) or each other’s company.

Once the meal was over but not finished, we made a swift exit.

I was left wondering, did we order the wrong dishes?  A lot of other guests seemed to be ordering some form of noodles and enjoying it.

After the meal, I did a further scan through Google reviews.  I found one that almost summed up our experience:

“Unfortunately it has nothing to do with Chinese cuisine. Unfortunately, as is the case in RJ, there is little to no taste, the lettuce wraps are a nice idea, but the prices are quite high. Service is present to the guest, close to intrusive but justifiable. The ambience has something of a James Bond villain triad hideout.”

How we go home…

Our homeward bound flight was the second part of the companion voucher that we used two weeks earlier to get to Rio.

As our flight was the only British Airways flight from Rio de Janeiro international airport on that day, the check in desk didn’t open until 3 hours before the flight. We like to be prompt to the airport so this meant a little bit of hanging around. Once they opened we were through in no time!

The Airport Lounges

At Rio De Janeiro, we had three options for lounges.  The American Airlines Admiral Lounge, Plaza Premium Lounge and the GOL Lounge.  

We went to all three, it would have been rude not too!

Although somewhat smaller than the other two, the American Airlines was definitely the best.

Why? The guy on the front desk was very personable. The food selection was probably the most attuned to an English palette. It was a help yourself bar. Finally they had great showers so you could refresh yourself before heading for the flight.

We sampled a little bit of food in the lounge.  This included some cheese and ham bread rolls, a miniature pastry, which was like an empanada and some breaded balls.

The breaded ball things were definitely the best.  They were filled with mashed potatoes mixed with cheese and meat that had a corned beef texture.

British Airways Flight – Rio De Janeiro to London

When we boarded the flight from Rio De Janeiro to London Heathrow, the cabin crew were very welcoming. ,They offered us two glasses of Champagne before take off and our in flight food order was taken.  This was a good sign of the service to come.

These were the menus…

Not long after the seatbelt sign went off, the post take off drink arrived.  Both of us had ordered gin and slimline tonic.  I have to say though it was more tonic than gin.  Not sure if they were trying to calm us down as we had been like over excited puppies from the Champagne.

Before my starter, I was offered another drink.  It was time to move on to wine so I selected the Sauvignon Blanc; J.Bouchon Reserva 2023 Maule, Chile. It was average, almost bordering on a pinot.

An Amuse-bouche of Barley salad, radish, courgette and mangoes started the meal.  The second part of my starter was a cream of courgette, potato, carrots and pepper soup. It was alright.

For the main course, I went for the roasted paprika salmon which came with a lemon and pea orzo, broccoli, garlic and parsley butter.

A small reservoir of juice had accumulated in the bottom of the bowl, which soaked up nicely with the brioche trio of bread that was left over from the starter.

The main course was massively better than the dried fish that I had on the way out to Rio.

For afters, I had the sticky toffee pudding. This was a small brownie like square with a toffee sauce.

The pudding was a squeegee sponge. It unfortunately was remiss of the anticipated taste of dates. 

Throughout the British Airways flight, the service was absolutely impeccable! Johnny and Adam were fantastic cabin crew.

In Summary…

Rio de Janeiro is a vast and varied city. This was demonstrated in the range of different experiences we had in the places we visited and the culinary dishes we sampled. As I said at the start you can’t go to Brazil and not go to Rio. I wouldn’t have missed it for the world. Do I want to go back? Never say never.