Cafe Exotico Brasil

My friend recommended the Cafe Exotico Brasil as one of the few places in Vancouver where you can order an authentic version of Feijoada, which is the national dish of Brazil. Pictured below, the Feijoada is essentially a meat stew with black beans, served with rice. Cafe Exotico also serves a vegetarian version of Feijoada for those so inclined.

With a special breakfast menu on weekends, Cafe Exotico offers a great selection of, well, exotic juices such as papaya, mango, passion fruit, and guava. I tried the papaya juice ($2.50), and it was simply bursting with flavor, probably made fresh that morning. I also ordered the he
art of palm (palmito) pie with salad (pictured below) which tasted as good as it looked. Heart of palm is a delicacy taken from the growing tip of palm trees, and is traditionally expensive because harvesting the tip actually kills the palm tree. But at Cafe Exotico the pie was one of the most affordable items on the menu, at just around $5.00.

This cafe is one of the most welcoming places I have been to lately, with staff who took the time to explain about the different ingredients in the dishes, and who were obviously happy about our table's interest in Brazilian food. They also have a piano in the restaurant and live music occasionally (call for details). I'm definitely going back here for dinner sometime, hopefully to try the shrimp casserole.