Travelling abroad can either be a pleasure or a very trying trip – according to a British friend of ours, there was a monarch in his country that used to say: “Never travel abroad, it’s a terrible place. I’ve been there and I know”. As much as I like visiting new sights, sometimes I tend to agree with His Grumpy Highness: nowadays, time spent in airports, waiting for delayed connecting flights, can be really annoying. Nevertheless, last time we travelled, we managed to include a pleasant interlude balancing fork and knife in one of São Paulo’s many enjoyable restaurants.
The eve of September 7th duty had us leaving for Europe with a dreadful rain and a tight schedule, but we still challenged the weather and the traffic, conveniently making a birthday reunion and ending up in La Marie. The restaurant located in Pinheiros welcomed us with its colourful interior and warm reception from the staff. High ceiling, huge chandeliers, comfortable chairs, and a nice selection of music make the ambiance. A window to the kitchen shows us that the cooks have “bandanas” on their heads — a nice touch.
The menu cover has a photo of a cute smiling little girl in a double ponytail, presumably the Marie that names the restaurant. A good variety of meat, poultry, and sea produce appeal to the eyes and stomach. It includes risottos and soufflés, and besides the Executivo menu there was the special option made to celebrate the international Restaurant Week lunch — this year from August 31st to September 13th 2009. We settled for a beef filet saltimbocca alla Romana, one beef steak tartar and the explanation that a “sofiotti” was a pasta filled with buffalo mozzarella convinced the last commensal. Sadly, time threatening us, we settled for no appetizers and no desserts.
Tasty pasta and sauces, filet done as requested, the dishes were very good, but the highlight of the meal was the steak tartar: the chef sent a sample to be approved beforehand, and it had the perfect combination of salt, vinegar, egg, caper, onions, Worcester sauce, paprika, cucumber, Tabasco, and thankfully, no anchovies. The only odd note was that it came with no toast, no blinis, no dark bread… But we made happily do with a side order of bread.
The chef (Edson and his huge glasses) made a point to come to all the tables to ask about the clients’ satisfaction, and as far as we could hear, no complaints were filed. So, take a note of the address, as it is a place to be checked out, preferably at leisure: Rua Francisco Leitão, 16. For reservations dial 30862800. Wheel chairs are welcome. Our choices were priced from 31 to 37 reais and you can peruse the menu at http://www.lamarierestaurante.com.br/.
(Publicado no Spotlight News Bulletin)
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