When we arrive at the compact, down-to-earth Copacabana eatery, Tasco de Lido, the other three couples in our Cook in Rio cooking class are already chatting away cheerfully as they sip drinks. Bob Marley is blasting on the stereo and the restaurant’s vivacious owner and Brazilian cooking course instructor chef Simone Theisen is singing along … Read more
“It’s going to be an interesting game tonight,” our guide Luis tells us with a grin, as he scans the score table and list of players he has on a sheet of paper in his hands. This is good news, because if you’re going to watch football in Rio you want it to be interesting. We’re … Read more
In our years of being semi-professional barflies and checking out bars around the world, purely in the name of research of course, we’ve developed a repertoire of favourite cocktails that we always order to test out the skills of a barman. One of them is a Latin American classic so during our recent stay in … Read more
Drinking a freshly-squeezed juice from one of Rio de Janeiro‘s juice bars, known locally as sucos bars is as much of a daily ritual for Cariocas as sipping coconut water beside the beach. There seems to be a juice bar on every block in Ipanema, their glass counters crammed with stunning displays of fruit and their … Read more
We meet locals in many different ways when we travel. Sometimes the people we connect with are friends of friends, sometimes we meet them in restaurants or bars, occasionally we meet them through the owners of the places we’re staying, and at other times we connect through social media channels such as Twitter. That’s how … Read more