siri mole e cia: rio de janeiro

the absolute finest in baiano (northeastern brasil) cuisine is served here in an elegant, carioca style. none of the afro-brasilian touches are left behind. there is a proper amount of heat in the pimenta malagueta and the moqueca is creamy & rich & perfect. i would have a photo of it, but it vanished SO quickly after arriving at our table that none of us were able to think about our cameras. the real star of the show was the appetizer, or i should say ONE of the appetizers. it came to the table piping hot, smelling of intoxicating dende (african palm oil) and rich in culture from far far away in africa.

behold: acaraje

this fantastic & perfect street food is called acara (or akara) in ethiopia, is much like hushpuppies in the south (only in the south it's made from cornmeal, not blackeyed peas like in brasil) and is a sister to falafel in the nothern african countries (made with chickpeas there). acaraje is culinary HISTORY.

on the upper left is vatapa, which is spread between the split acaraje, and shrimp are tucked in & topped with the salad shown in the middle. if you're brave & made of part asbestos, you can drizzle a bit of malagueta onto the soft cut side of the acaraje before you spread the vatapa (this will mask some of the heat). here's a photo of an unusual green malagueta...

siri mole e cia is a marvelous place to get a little taste of bahia without having 2 leave rio. it's authentic, it's elegant & it's amazingly, blissfully, tearjerkingly delicious.