The Brazilian dining experience ventures into traditionally unchartered waters taking on the all-you-can eat crowd and doing so with a quality and South American panache its lower market rivals fail to match. Ideally located on Shaftesbury Avenue for both the throng of tourists and the theatre-goers, it offers carvers on call for meat lovers and you don’t even have to leave your seat once you’ve chosen your own veg.
For the price of £19.95 carvers dressed all in black bring an unlimited grill of spit-roasted meat to your table. The best cuts of spiced beef, garlic lamb – you name it, it’s probably there, in fact many Brazilian varieties that you probably couldn’t. Fifteen in all and carved right there in front of you. How it works is you’re given a card that’s green on one side, red on the other. Green is a signal to keep the grub coming while red is a tummy rest period. But it will be a challenge to keep going after a few platefuls because these delicious dishes serve their purpose in filling you pretty quickly. This may very well be the first all-you-can-eat restaurant you visit where you’re literally pleading for a doggie bag. But of course it doesn’t work that way.
One of their Brazilian blend cocktails may come in handy while you’re digesting their mouth-watering grills and staring blankly at your red card pondering whether to chance a cheeky green. There’s a Caipirinha Caipiroska Caipirissima, a thirst-quenching mix of vodka, rum, cachaca and lime, sugar or the even more exotic Fruit Caipirinha which has all of the above ingredients but with Strawberry or Passion Fruit thrown in. The other summer cocktail offers have the sunny weather in mind with mint to cool you down and Brazilian guarana to caffeine you up and dust off the August slumber.
As all-you-can-eat food joints go it leaves the others firmly in the shade. Many such eateries skimp on quality because they know you’re probably going to be wolfing through the lot and certainly it isn’t a dining experience you associate with high quality food. Rodizio Preto bucks this trend by preparing sizzlingly delicious best cuts that will have you telling friends, family and just about anyone who will listen.
