Casa Brasil, Petersham

Churrasco is a carnivore's dream come true. In Brazil, churrasco means barbecue, a meat-fest of assorted cuts and proteins cooked on skewers over charcoal or a grill. The common way of enjoying churrasco in Brazil is rodizio-style, where waiters carry skewers of meat around the restaurant and carve slices for diners on demand. It's always all-you-can-eat.

Palma Louca Brazilian pilsener and a caipirinha (cachaça sugar cane rum, sugar and lime)

It's the allure of meat-alicious gluttony that brings us to Casa Brasil in Petersham, recently relocated from Crystal Street to the much busier junction at the corner of New Canterbury and Livingstone Roads.

The restaurant offers an a la carte menu, but the most popular option here is the all-you-can-eat churrasco.

ALL-YOU-CAN-EAT churrasco served rodizio-style as continuous tableside service
$39 Tuesday to Saturday dinner
$30 Sunday lunch
Half price for children 5-11 years

* Special offer $31 Tuesday to Thursday dinner until end of August 2011

Churrasco includes:
Picanha (rump cap)
Picanha com alho (garlic rump)
Fraldinha (skirt steak)
Carneiro (lamb)
Paleta de porco (pork neck)
Linguiça de porco (pork sausage)
Linguiça de frango (chicken sausage)
Coxinha de frango (chicken drumettes)
Sobre-coxa de frango (chicken thigh fillet)
Coração de frango (chicken hearts)
Peixe (fish)
Camarão (prawns)
Queijo (cheese)
Pão de alho (garlic bread)
Abacaxi com canela (pineapple with cinnamon)
* Selections may vary due to availability on the day

Served with side dishes:
Salada (mixed salad)
Arroz (rice)
Feijão (black beans)
Mandioca frita (fried cassava)
Polenta frita (fried polenta)
Vinagrete (tomato vinaigrette)
Farofa (seasoned flour of cassava)
Tasty sauces

Feijão black beans with rice

We're immediately issued with a platter of side dishes that includes feijão, polenta chips and fried cassava. Feijão means beans in Portuguese, and this thick stew of slow-cooked black beans is commonly recognised as the national dish of Brazil. Feijão is best enjoyed with white rice, and sprinkled generously with farofa, coarse crumbs of cassava flour that is seasoned and then roasted until golden and crunchy.


Polenta frita (fried polenta) and mandioca frita (fried cassava)
with farofa (seasoned cassava flour)

Planks of fried polenta are a comforting contrast of crisp shell and fluffy interior. We don't take long to clear out the fried cassava too, starchy and muted in flavour, as we nurse our drinks. The cairpirinha has a pleasant alcoholic kick from the cachaça, a spirit made from fermented sugar cane. I settle on the Palma Louca beer, a Brazilian pilsener that is smooth and mild and easy-drinking.


Mixed salad

The restaurant is reasonably quiet on a weeknight, and almost all tables have opted for the churrasco. It's a relief to be able to hold a pleasant conversation in a sedate dining room, however minimal diners mean that the parade of skewers is slower and less frequent.


Linguiça de porco (pork sausage) and linguiça de frango (chicken sausage)

There is no doubt you will easily eat your fill though. We steadily make our way through the entire suite of dishes, eating up chicken sausage, thighs and drumettes and feasting on slices of fatty lamb, skirt steak and the always amazing pincanha rump camp.


Coxinha de frango (chicken drumettes)

It's not all meat. We get into camarão garlic prawns, squares of grilled queijo cheese that remind me a little of haloumi, roasted zucchini slices and fillets of fish - perhaps the only disappointment of the night with the basa fish yielding soggy blandness.


Picanha rump cap


Slicing the picanha rump cap

Coração de frango (chicken hearts)

My heart beats fast for coração de frango, chicken hearts that are slightly smoky from the grill. These are brilliant the first time around but we when ask for seconds later that evening, it seems like the same skewer returns as the hearts are dry and bouncy.


Abacaxi com canela (pineapple with cinnamon)

We manage to score three servings of the abacaxi com canela, fresh pineapple dusted generously with cinnamon and roasted until caramelised. It's a refreshing way to finish the evening - the pineapple is sweet, and the acidity is just what our palates need. 


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Casa Brasil

77 New Canterbury Road, Petersham, Sydney

Tel: +61 (02) 9560 9595

Opening hours:

Lunch Friday to Sunday 12noon - 3.30pm

Dinner Tuesday to Saturday from 6pm

All-you-can eat churrasco available
Tuesday to Saturday dinner $39
Sunday lunch $30
Half price for children 5-11 years

* Special offer $31 Tuesday to Thursday dinner until end of August 2011

Fully licensed (no BYO)

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