Rodizio ushers in ‘meaty’ celebration

With a new menu in place, the Brazilian restaurant’s authentic delicacies are the flavour of Independence Day festivities. By Umer NangianaAuthentic flavours with original music by a Latin band, Rodizio launched the Brazilian Independence Day celebrations in style. With D‘Habanason band playing in the background at the familiar settings of its dining hall, the restaurant at Crowne Plaza Doha launched an all-new menu to coincide with Sete de Setembro, Brazil’s Independence Day celebrated on September 7.   Created under the aegis of new chef, Marcio Floreste from Sao Paulo, the menu offers 13 different cuts of meat in Churrascarian choices besides a la carte and side dishes coupled with desserts and signature Brazilian sips. During the celebrations of Sete de Setembro from September 6 to 13, the restaurant is offering a free welcome drink to diners.From the new menu, diners can choose between Explore Brazil with six cuts meat and Experience it all with 13 cuts meat. “We had a fantastic journey with Rodizio. We introduced our fantastic brand new a la carte menu with our Brazilian chef from Sao Paulo. And we combined this with Churrascaria which we are famous for and I am sure we have the best meat in the city and this is the place for meat,” Robbert Manussen, Resident Manager, Crowne Plaza Doha told Community.“We wanted to extend this menu to the people who want to enjoy a nice steak and a good piece of seafood. And what better way to launch it with Brazilian National Day, so we are celebrating the entire week, offering all our guests a welcome drink, additional atmosphere and a brand new band that joined us only recently,” he added. The manager said Churrascaria remains the highlight of the new menu boasting some fantastic cuts of meat that they bring in from Latin America and the United States. “For example the Picanha, which is traditional Brazilian meat and also the flank steak. In the line with that we have created a la carte dishes like a great rib eye, a great flank steak, sea food and fantastic salmon salad,” said Manussen.You just have to sit there with your place card turned to green and you would be swarmed by a troop of carvers generously serving various cuts of seasoned beef, lamb, duck and chicken, all accompanied by traditional side dishes and Brazilian cheese bread.Introducing the new chef at Rodizio, Manussen said he joins the restaurant from Sao Paulo where he worked at a hotel managing several restaurants. Here, he is really focusing on his core of bringing Brazilian flavours, revisiting all the traditional recipes and adding new ingredients to make it a real Brazilian cuisine. “We really want to put food and beverage much more on the map and we offer great value for money and this menu exactly highlights that. If you want to have a quick bite or you really want to have an extensive celebrated menu, this is the place to go to,” claimed the manager.Chef Marcio Floreste brings with him a 13 year experience in gastronomy. Having studied gastronomy and food service at a university in Sao Paulo, Floreste started working in catering and contemporary restaurants in 2013. “I have been working on a cruise ship as a suite chef, travelling about 20 countries in Americas before heading back to Brazil. Before moving to Doha, I was working with Hilton where I handled restaurants,” said Floreste. “Here at Rodizio, we are doing the typical Brazilian food. We usually have rice and beans on the daily basis. We have Churrascaria, our typical BBQ and we also have the Feijoada, which is a stew of beans with beef. We also cook cassava which has typical ingredients like coconut, passion fruit, and coconut milk besides the meat,” said the chef.Brazil, he added, is one of the biggest poultry producers in the world and also one of the biggest producers of meat. Brazilians have meat on a daily basis. “I have introduced here some contemporary Brazilian food. We have some cassava puree and some vegetables as well. I am trying to bring to Doha all that we have in Brazil in order to let people taste authentic food,” said the chef.He said Brazil is different in all of Latin America with a distinct culture and many immigrants coming from different countries. “We have our own special culture. We are full of immigrants there. People have come from Asia, Europe and Africa. We have cassava from the Indians, rice and beans came from Portuguese, so we get all the variety from all these countries,” said the new chef at Rodizio. The restaurant also offers an early bird offer to those who come before 7pm.