Two weekends ago (the week where Man United whoooped Arsenal's ass), me, Don and Yong were having dinner @ 1U and talking about good places to eat around here. Don suggested this place up in Damansara Jaya called Carnaval Churrascaria which served authentic Brazilian BBQ. I've seen Brazilian bbqs before though only on tv and I knew if it was anything near that, it was gonna be legen...wait for it... dary... So the 3 of us decided to check the place out the following week/yesterday.
Only thing lacking was a Brazilian dressed in carnival costume to open the door :P. Pic taken from http://eatfirstthinklater.blogspot.comSo around 7pm us three amigos arrived at a nice corner shop restaurant that didn't look out of the ordinary from the outside. But step right in and you can see a big Brazil flag hung along with our good ol' Malaysian flag with green and yellow coloured tablecloths. I was kinda surprised that Don made a reservation cos the place looked kinda empty at that time but I was soon to find out that making a reservation is very important. I was also very impressed with how the owner of the restaurant (well, at least we think he is) took his time to explain to us about the cuisine and how to eat and what to eat it with. And it's only natural for a Brazilian cuisine restaurant to have a Brazilian as a head chef right? His most important sentence was : Don't eat too fast or you'll throw up, take your time and enjoy your meal.
Warnings are there for a reason, but some just don't listen...Well, for those who don't know what this kinda cuisine is all about, it is basically different kinds of meat being grilled over the bbq back in the kitchen and servers will come out with them and serve you table side. And its an all you can eat buffet of sorts which meant that the food will keep coming to your table and it's up to you if you want to take a piece or pass. There was chicken, beef, lamb, fish and shrimp. The meats were cooked several different ways and different cuts. There was also a salad bar which the owner suggested we raid as to accommodate the richness of the meat. But what? Veges at a meat buffet? At first we didn't bother with it but soon enough we kinda figured out that the dude knew what he's talkin about...
Let the feast begin...So first thing that came out was garlic bread, though I don't think its authentic Brazilian but it was good, and the only carb we ate all night! Then there was this big ass piece of chicken ham next. If there's one thing you can't go wrong with it's bacon, second would be ham. Boy did we whack the ham... And after awhile a whole range of food kept coming to our plate. I had to keep retaking the pictures of my platter cos it was constantly being filled with new stuff like normal grilled chicken, curry chicken, garlic beef (which was a tad well done but still awesome), chicken sausage, chicken gizzard, some curry/kunyit grilled dory fish, shrimp and lamb chop. Not that I was complaining though.
Now this is a plate full of goodness...We took our time gobbling down all those goodness though at different rates: Yong was already cleaning his plate and looking up for the next round of food while I was still clicking on my camera and enjoying my cocktail with for the life of me, I can't remember the name (prob cos its so long and complicated) but it did taste kinda mojito like and goes extremely well with the food. Don on the other hand was struggling to finish his, or was he savouring every bite? We didn't add anything to our plate for a brief moment as the same food was making the rounds so we took this time to spam on the greens... I don't know what kind of leaf they took but it was actually good! Sweet and full of roughage.
The leaves were actually good! There is the mint sauce and some capsicum vinegar mix...The best was yet to come though, as up next was the beef rump (think thats what it was). It was just so juicy (as the guy sliced the meat, you can see the juice and blood flow) and heavenly and nicely seasoned. No MSG or meat tenderizers so says the owner. But if thought that was good, what came next just blew us away: A big, juicy shoulder of lamb. For those who thought the lamb at my BBQ was good (if you didn't then screw u :P), this one kicks that one's ass to a bloody pulp. It literally melts in your mouth! I couldn't remember when was the last time I had a piece of meat so juicy, succulent and mind blasting... oh wait, just several minutes before...
Lamb (Shoulder) of God -Don, we concurred...By then we were already bout half full with Don gasping for air while me and Yong decide to take a half time break. Well, sort off la, if the lamb or beef were to pass us, we'd take a piece, or 2 or 3. They still had 1 thing up their sleeve: grilled pineapple. They coated the pineapple with sugar which caramelizes giving it a sort of crispy bite. It was just so nice and yet again, juicy! And the when all the burnt part of the pineapple has been cut off for the customers, they bring it to the back and recoat it and regrill it so when it comes out again, we can see it got smaller but still had the burnt goodness! And that's the same way they do their lamb shoulder and ham minus the sugar of course.
This folks, is the shyt...So after barely an hour feasting, we we're kinda stuffed but no matter what, we couldn't resist the lamb shoulder, beef rump and pineapple. So we just sat there, looked at the other people eating and Yong and Don exchanged secrets on how to lose the flab. And after another half hour or so, all 3 of us decided to raise the white flag and determined we had enough. Don was constantly adjusting his seat while being in a food coma (stoning) while Yong was complaining of meat poisoning... wuss... :P. I was also probably half stoning cos I forgot to take pictures of the pineapple even though we had plenty of it =.=''.
Heaven on a skewer...Earlier I mentioned that it was important to make a reservation beforehand and the reason was clear for us to see, the restaurant started filling up about half an hour after us and every table was already reserved. The whole time we were there, only 1 table got up and left being replaced by another group of people. That also because they were already here way before we came. So if any of you wanna come here next time, do make a reservation. As for the price, it only costs RM50 per head for the full spread excluding drinks of course. So for the amount and quality of food we got, and for the price we paid which came up to roughly RM59 after tax and a glass of refillable water each, it is freaking worth it! LEGENDARY indeed (Y)!
No feast would be complete without some alcohol... So to all you meat lovers out there, if you want good food, good drinks (I think they have a few specials) and good prices, this is the place to go! Though I'd only come back again say after a month? Only because it is a really kao kind of meal and not cos of the price. Oh, India Boy already says he wants to come in March... So Yong, make a reservation lah :D
A nice quite place with kick ass food...And the perfect way to cap of the night? Watching United whoop Portsmouth, though there were 3 own goals but Rooney did score and had an assist so =D. His feat was then replicated and I dare say bettered by Leo Messi in Barca's win later that night. Oh happy days...
