I love me a bit of churrasquiera. Ever since I was introduced to the delights of an all you can eat buffet style BBQ in Tenerife as a little girl, I’ve longed for something similar in the UK. With this knowledge you will be surprised to hear that I have yet to visit Bem Brazil in Manchester. I just haven’t gotten around to it for one reason or another, so when invited to Bem Brazil in Altrincham I was excited to see if it was similar to my favourite one in Tenerife. You may remember I really enjoyed Fazenda, a similar style of restaurant, recently.
The venue is fairly small but there is an upstairs with the same set up for the overflow which is welcomed. We visited on a Wednesday evening so it was fairly quiet yet there was still live music in the form of a pianist serenading the diners. He wasn’t my cup of tea and it was fairly loud, we had to raise our voices significantly to hear each other. That said when he didn’t sing and just played the piano it was very pleasant, especially for a Wednesday evening.
We were warmly greeted and taken to our table where we were advised that all day on Wednesday and Friday they offer 2 for 1 on their, pretty impressive I must say, cocktail menu. We didn’t indulge but it is certainly something I would go back for.
The buffet style selection is small yet adequate with some lovely Brazilian cheese dough balls being the star of the show and some surprisingly good albondigas, meat balls to you and me, that have a lovely kick of heat. I was surprised to see the lack of fries at the selection but impressed when a basket of them arrived at the table. They were fresh rather than left to go soggy under the heat lamps, a lovely touch.
Now we all know we weren’t here for a bit of a self serve food, oh no, we were here for the meat and everything that comes with it.
We were asked how we would like our meat cooked and it came exactly as we had asked. I noticed the server came to each table in turn so all the cuts arrived in the same order no matter what time you entered the restaurant. I loved this as it meant we didn’t get the same cut back again too quickly, unless we asked for it, and we didn’t miss any either.
Some of the meat was a little salty but I loved the filet mignon with cheese and bacon as well as the cap of rump which was rich in flavour and soft in texture. You will also see a particular good skirt of beef which is buttery in texture and chicken hearts which seemed an interesting addition. Not for me but certainly something a little different. Something else a little different was the garlic bread served the same way as the meats which was soft and smothered in garlic butter. We asked for this several times so we could eat more of it, it was so good, and a great one for mopping up those meat juices.
To finish we were served grilled pineapple dusted with cinnamon. A great, juicy and sweet way of cleansing the palate to either start again or leave with a full tummy. We did the latter but would definitely make more of an effort one lunch time on an empty stomach.
The service throughout the evening was impeccable and the staff really are a credit to the restaurant. The price is a little high, especially being the same as the restaurants in Manchester at £25.95 in my opinion, but I don’t think you’ll find anything else like it outside of the City Centre, A great option for a group and those cocktails, blimey they looked good. I’ll be back for my Brazilian drinks soon.
We dined as guests of Bem Brazil and weren’t asked to pay for our meal.
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