Rio eats standing up: at tiled botequim counters, on beach sand, and in market halls where fruit is stacked by the crate. Three days of pastel and caldo de cana, bolinho de bacalhau, roast-pork sandwiches at 3am and Belle Époque cake counters.
Rio's best open-air feira runs Sundays 07:00–14:00 along Rua Augusto Severo: crates of jaca, caju, graviola and pitaya, plus stands frying pastel de camarão to order and pressing caldo de cana beside them.
The city's wholesale market, open 06:00–17:00 and Saturdays to 13:00. Upstairs hides a Portuguese enclave: Cantinho das Concertinas grills sardines and serves bacalhau à Gomes de Sá, while Rio Best Beer pours a dozen taps.
A Belle Époque tearoom from 1894 with Belgian mirrors, jacaranda counters and a stained-glass ceiling. Order pastel de Santa Clara and a quindim at the ground-floor counter. Mon–Fri 09:00–19:00, Sat to 17:00.
A tiled counter facing Guanabara Bay. Buy bolinho de bacalhau, empadinha de camarão and a cold Original at the window, then cross the road and sit on the seawall with everyone else as the light goes gold.
Rio's oldest confectioner, trading since 1860 on the edge of the Saara bazaar. Marble tables, mirrored walls and a counter stacked with empadinhas de palmito, quindim and pastéis de nata. Mon–Fri 09:00–19:00, Sat to 14:00.
Open since 1887 and renamed during the war, this is Rio's German botequim: kassler with sauerkraut, potato salad, sausage platters and dark chopp carried by waiters in white jackets. Closed Sundays, kitchen to 23:00.
A 1948 counter repeatedly voted Rio's best botequim. Regulars arrive at 16:00 for bolinho de feijoada, aipim com carne seca and chopp. There are no tables — the whole bar spills onto the pavement of Rua José Linhares.
A 1951 rodízio house one block from the beach: 20-plus cuts carried on skewers, from picanha and fraldinha to lamb and chicken hearts, with a buffet of salpicão, palm heart and farofa. Around R$ 260 per person.
A converted wholesale produce hall in Humaitá. Fruit, fish and cheese stalls trade from 07:00 while the cafés under the roof serve pão na chapa with butter and coffee. Open daily, turning into pizza-and-beer tables by night.
An institution since 1955, built on the sanduíche de pernil com abacaxi — slow-roast pork and grilled pineapple in a soft bun. The counter runs until 04:00 Friday and Saturday and is busiest at 3am, not lunchtime.
The kiosks around Posto 9 are a food culture of their own: biscoito Globo sold by the sackful, mate gelado poured from steel backpacks, queijo coalho grilled over charcoal, açaí bowls and caipirinhas mixed on the sand.
A Portuguese bar open since 1957 with a glass counter of forty-odd petiscos: octopus in olive oil, stuffed squid, sardines, marinated aubergine and quail eggs. Point at what you want, pay by weight, drink vinho verde standing.