For Independence Day this year, Ipanema Restaurant hosted a four-day celebration,
highlighting the food and culture of the Latin American nation. By Umer Nangiana
Different flavours of meat in the traditional rodizio style with exotic music and dance; this is how Ipanema, the Brazilian restaurant in Marriott Marquis Doha, celebrated the Latin American nation’s Independence Day this year.
The four-day event beginning September 4 culminated on the Independence Day (September 7). During these days, the ambience at the award-winning restaurant evoked the Brazilian spirit truly in the essence of the occasion, which Ipanema vows to retain for the rest of the year.
This exquisitely designed little uptown restaurant is literally a meat heaven. Many different types of meat cuts from beef, lamb to chicken and duck offer as much as one can indulge in. Prepared in the authentic grill style of Brazil, the meat is served in the same Latin tradition of the country.
It is a popular serving style from Brazil called espeto corrido or rodízio where waiters move around the restaurant with the skewers, slicing meat onto your plate. They will keep coming to you as long as you keep the green side of the flip card on your table up. Once you are done, flip the card red, however, it will sure take you a lot of time getting to that stage.
After all, the 15 different cuts of meat are just too tempting to skip any of them. Apart from its regular features, the restaurant’s chefs prepared four different cuts of meat for starters especially for the occasion of Independence Day.
“Back in the early 1700s when Africans came to Brazil, they brought with them their food, their culture and their dances. Right now we are displaying here only some kinds of food from Brazil for the occasion. The regular cuts of meat go on throughout the year here,” John Carvalho, the Assistant Restaurant Manager-Ipanema told Community.
Marriott Marquis’s Churrascaria (the restaurant serving grilled meat in as-much-as-you-can-eat style) offers an enticing range of sizzling meats. Prime meats like spicy Linguica, juicy Picanha, char-grilled chicken and lamb are cooked live on an open pit.
The specially prepared starters contained Bolinho de Carne Seca com Abobora (dried beef with pumpkin croquets). It is a traditional Brazilian savoury, made of fresh pumpkin balls stuffed with salted oven-dried beef.
This starter is the first real taste of different cuts of beef that you are going to experience in the main courses, only that this one is a little less juicy and lighter. The next meaty starter on the list is Escondidinho de Carne Seca (tapioca puree and dried beef pie). Escondidinho literally means ‘The hidden one’. It is a famous northeastern recipe. The salty gamey taste of the Carne Seca is perfectly contrasted by the buttery silky texture of the cassava puree.
The other two dishes came from the state of Bahia. The ‘Shrimps Bobo’ is a classic dish from Bahia. It contains most of the fundamental ingredients of the Bahian cook’s recipes which are pumpkin, coconut milk (lots of it), dende palm oil and the sweet fresh shrimps that Brazil’s northeast coast is so famous for.
“It is a lot like soup only that it is a little bit thicker than a soup with a lot of shrimp inside it. It is very traditional from Brazil,” said Carvalho. The fish stew was a typical version from Bahia and is prepared with coconut milk, spices and chillies, giving an authentic flavour to this dish. “The fish soup is prepared a little bit different from the African or the Bahian region. It is a little bit spicy,” said the assistant manager.
The best part of Ipanema, however, is the purpose-built barbecue grill. The specially designed grill works in an ideal meat preparation mechanism for all the meat lovers out there.
First the meat is sized, and then put on the lower most grills to be cooked on low heat. Then it is moved upwards to the next two levels and is put on the third and the top one to keep it hot before it is served. The sight of meat on the skewers right above the burning charcoal is tantalising.
“We in all have 15 cuts. We are serving four cuts with salads in the starters. The main cuts include chicken wings, lamb chops among others. We have chunks of meat including garlic beef that we have to cook in advance like 20 minutes to get it medium red. I manage the time accordingly so that they are served in the best of the tastes,” Head Chef Saeed Bashir told Community.
“This place here is the reason why 90% of the people come here to Ipanema for our selection of meat. We have at least 15 different types of cuts everyday mixed between beef, lamb, duck and chicken,” said Carvalho, pointing to the meat grill section right beside the salad bar.
Some of the meat cuts are marinated while the others just have rock salt on them. “It is cooked slowly on a low heat in a traditional way which leaves a lot of juice in it. It does make a huge difference,” said Bashir.
Executive Chef Christian Jean said to bring out the original taste of Brazilian grill meat, it depends a lot on the quality of the meat and many other factors. “We add only salt. The rest of it depends on the quality of the meat that you are using. We order it from the countries having the best of it and the quality is very good. Then the charcoal used in the grill influences the taste of the meat too,” said Jean.
He specially recommended cubes of beef which are marinated in the non-alcoholic beer and garlic. The meat cuts also include duck, chicken hearts, kofta. “We have the tastiest and popular meat cuts in the town,” claimed Jean.
The meaty experience at Ipanema was perfectly complemented by a capoeira performance by Rafael and Dia. The capoeira is Brazilian martial arts combining the elements of dance, acrobatics and music.
The dancers made perfect use of the space in Ipanema to the guests’ amusement for two performances daily for the two dinner sessions from 6:30pm to 8:30pm and then for 9pm to 11:30pm.
However, the traditional live Brazilian samba band Brazuqa at Ipanema is a regular feature of the restaurant and it entertains the diners everyday with their music tunes. All in all, the Bahian inspired food, the signature cocktails and the traditional Brazilian music makes Ipanema a winning combination.
For meat lovers, particularly those liking it juicy and grilled, the Brazilian restaurant is the place to go to in town. It won the 2014 Time Out Doha Restaurant Awards for ‘Best Latin American’ cuisine.
Ipanema, with a design reflecting the colours and spirit of Brazil, offers 86 spaces for seated dining and 24 bar spaces. Located on the second floor of the Marriott Marquis City Center Doha Hotel, the restaurant is open 7 days a week from 6.30pm to 11.30pm and additionally for Friday brunch.
