Churrascaria is a Brazilian name for restaurants that serve grilled meat and this is the concept Brasa de Brasil goes for.
The root of the churrascaria stems from the fireside roasts of the gauchos — or cowboys — of southern Brazil in the early 1800’s when European immigrants settled in the Rio Grande do Sul area. They were strong skillful people who treasured and nurtured land and quickly became adept at raising cattle.
Those people came up with a unique cooking style called Churrasco. They would slowly grill big chunks of prime meat on an open fire to perfection. With the large knives they wore on their belts, the gauchos would slice the meat into thin pieces to dine on.
This specific tradition gave birth to churrascarias like Brasa de Brazil, which use the same cooking techniques and presentation. Even their waiters wear the same clothing as the gauchos. You can see them walking around in black baggy pants and cowboy hats.
The restaurant was opened in Jeddah last August and Jeddawis are already filling up the venue thanks to the variety of dishes and wonderful experience that the restaurant has to offer. It is located on Andalus Street. You cannot miss the wooden building right behind Uptown966 restaurant. As soon as you walk in Brasa de Brasil, you are welcomed by one of the gauchos who guide you to a table. The interior is a mixture between contemporary and authentic Brazilian. Some of the walls are bricks, others are made of wood and the rest are glass overlooking the street outside. Red velvet chairs and square wooden tables fill a spacious area that seats up to 360 diners at once. You can see your food being grilled in the open glass kitchen and see your drink being prepared at the wooden bar.
In the center of the restaurant is a full-size salad bar that offers a variety of salads from Brazil, Asia and the Middle East as well as two kinds of soups that change every day.
There is something for everyone, from sushi, seafood salads, low calorie salads and of course vegetarian salads. I sampled many and I loved the hamour fish salad made with garlic sauce. I would also recommend the crabstick salad with cucumber strips in Japanese mayo sauce.
I also tried the ostrich broth soup. I thought it would be clear, but it was a heavy tomato soup with mini pieces of ostrich. This prepared me for the meat feast that was about to come my way.
There is also a separate side dish bar, from which you can choose one or more out of eight different side orders.
My waiter recommended me a caipirinha, an authentic Brazilian drink with lime, ginger and soda. It was refreshing and full of flavor. My friend ordered the Brazilian Crush, a medley of orange and pomegranate with a touch of grenadine and ginger ale. Now that is a must try.
There is a small wooden marker on my table that has a red and a green side. When you flip the green side up, it means you are ready for the meat to come to your table. As soon as you flip it, head to the side dish bar and choose your favorite side dish from rice, potatoes, vegetables and more. The waiter will arrive with five different sauces to prepare you for a great dip for your grills.
Now the restaurant promises you 15 different cuts of meats, grilled to perfection. Make sure to be really hungry and ready for the meat feast when you visit the restaurant.
All their meats are fresh, marinated and grilled on skewers, which help the meat preserve all the natural juices and flavors. Waiters will parade around your table with different kinds of meat on skewers and start serving you. This will never stop until you are fully satisfied.
The cuts include ostrich meat, deer meat, chicken, fish, shrimp, camel meat, lamb chops, lamb legs, turkey meat, chicken wrapped with beef bacon, chicken drum sticks, quail meat, chicken thighs, beef ribs, beef tenderloin, prawns wrapped with beef bacon and many more.
Sometimes eating too much meat can make your taste buds go numb. The restaurant also adapted a Brazilian tradition of serving diners grilled pineapple with sugar and cinnamon to refresh your buds. This enables you to try more kinds of meat.
My waiter came to me asking why I didn’t use the sauces, I totally forgot about them because the marinade was so good that the meats came to me tasting amazing and I didn’t need sauce to make it taste any better.
I know this might be overwhelming but I promise you an experience that no other restaurant can offer you, at least here in Saudi Arabia.
The best part of the meal comes at the end with the desert bar. I tried only Brazilian deserts with fried banana topped with sugar, cinnamon and drizzled with honey. There is also the cream papaya, lemon mousse and other international deserts such as cheesecakes and chocolate fudge.
Expect to pay: SR150 per person
Opening hours: Noon to 1 a.m.
Brasa de Brazil: Artistry of meat
Brasa de Brazil: Artistry of meat
Book Review: ‘Padma’s All American’ Cookbook
- For her, the true story of American food proves that immigration is not an outside influence but the foundation of the country’s culinary identity
Closing out 2025 is “Padma’s All American: Tales, Travels, and Recipes from Taste the Nation and Beyond: A Cookbook,” a reminder that in these polarizing times within a seemingly un-united US, breaking bread really might be our only human connection left. Each page serves as a heaping — and healing — helping of hope.
“The book you have before you is a personal one, a record of my last seven years of eating, traveling and exploring. Much of this time was spent in cities and towns all over America, eating my way through our country as I filmed the shows ‘Top Chef’ and ‘Taste the Nation’,” the introduction states.
“Top Chef,” the Emmy, James Beard and Critics Choice Award-winning series, which began in 2006, is what really got Padma Lakshmi on the food map.
“Taste the Nation,” of course, is “a show for immigrants to tell their own stories, as they saw fit, and its success owes everything to the people who invited us into their communities, their homes, and their lives,” she writes.
Working with producer David Shadrack Smith, she began developing a television series that explored American immigration through cuisine, revealing how deeply immigrant food traditions shaped what people considered American today.
She was the consistent face and voice of reason — curious and encouraging to those she encountered.
Lakshmi notes that Americans now buy more salsa and sriracha than ketchup, and dishes like pad Thai, sushi, bubble tea, burritos and bagels are as American as apple pie — which, ironically, contains no ingredients indigenous to North America. Even the apples in the apple pie came from immigrants.
For her, the true story of American food proves that immigration is not an outside influence but the foundation of the country’s culinary identity.
“If I think about what’s really American … it’s the Appalachian ramp salt that I now sprinkle on top of my Indian plum chaat,” she writes.
In this book Lakshmi tells the tale of how her mother arrived in the US as an immigrant from India in 1972 to seek “a better life.”
Her mother, a nurse in New York, worked for two years before Lakshmi was brought to the US from India. At 4 years old, Lakshmi journeyed alone on the 19-hour flight.
America became home.
Now, with visibility as a model and with a noticeable scar on her arm (following a horrific car accident), she is using her platform for good once again.
Lakshmi is merging her immigrant advocacy with her long career in food media.
The photo of her on the cover, joined by a large American flag, is loud, proud and intentional.
The book contains pages dedicated to ingredients and their uses, actual recipes and, most deliciously, the stories of how those cooks came to be.
