Best restaurants and what to eat
Brazil
Salvador, the capital of Bahia, is one of Brazil’s most distinctive culinary centers, where Afro-Brazilian, Indigenous, and Portuguese influences meet in a deeply aromatic coastal cuisine. The city is especially known for rich coconut-based stews, dendê (palm oil), peppery seafood dishes, and sweets that reflect the historic sugar economy and vibrant street-food culture.
A brilliant orange-red palm oil with a deep, earthy aroma and a distinctive savory richness that defines much of Salvador’s cooking. It lends color, body, and a warm tropical flavor to moquecas, vatapás, and acarajé fillings, and is inseparable from Bahia’s Afro-Atlantic culinary identity.
Fresh coconut milk is used throughout Salvadorian cooking for its creamy texture and gentle sweetness, balancing the heat of chilies and the intensity of dendê oil. It is a foundational ingredient in coastal stews and sweets, bringing a lush, rounded finish to many Bahian dishes.
Toasted cassava flour is a staple with a dry, sandy crunch and a nutty, comforting flavor. In Salvador it often appears as farofa, adding texture to beans, stews, seafood, and grilled meats while reflecting the enduring importance of cassava in Brazilian food culture.
Black-eyed peas are prized for their creamy interior and delicate, earthy taste, especially after soaking and mashing for fritters and salads. In Salvador they are a core ingredient in street foods and festive preparations, most famously in acarajé and abará.
This is the intensely flavored, traditional palm oil of Bahia, valued for its glossy texture, savory depth, and unmistakable fragrance. It is used sparingly in some dishes and generously in others, giving Salvador’s cuisine its signature color and soul.
A fiery small chili that brings bright, piercing heat to Bahian condiments, sauces, and fillings. In Salvador it is often mashed into fresh pepper sauces and served alongside seafood, fritters, and stews to sharpen the rich, coconut-and-palm-oil base of the cuisine.
A popular Brazilian coconut cocktail often made locally with cachaça, coconut, and sweetening ingredients, served cold and creamy. In Salvador, it is a familiar beachside and bar drink, prized for its tropical sweetness and easy-drinking character.
Brazil’s signature cachaça cocktail, bright with lime and sugar, served over ice for a sharp, refreshing profile. While enjoyed across the country, Salvador’s warm climate and festive nightlife make it a natural companion to spicy Bahian foods.
A distilled spirit from sugarcane juice, often enjoyed neat or as the base of cocktails, with grassy, fruity, and sometimes rustic notes. In Bahia, local cachaça culture is closely tied to festive drinking and informal bars throughout Salvador.
A regional liqueur made from jenipapo fruit, usually sweet, aromatic, and gently earthy with a distinctive tropical character. It is commonly served as a digestif and appears in family gatherings and local celebrations.
A fruity liqueur made from cajá, offering bright acidity, perfume, and a lush tropical finish. It is a classic Bahian after-dinner drink, often enjoyed chilled.
A regional fruit liqueur with floral, slightly tangy notes and a soft sweetness that captures Bahia’s tropical orchards. It is typically served cold in small glasses, especially during festivities.
A celebrated Salvador street dish of deep-fried black-eyed pea fritters, split open and typically filled with vatapá, caruru, shrimp, and pepper sauce. Crisp, aromatic, and intensely flavorful, it is one of the city’s most iconic foods and a powerful symbol of Bahia’s Afro-Brazilian heritage.
A steamed black-eyed pea dumpling wrapped in banana leaf, seasoned with onion, ginger, and dendê. Softer and more delicate than acarajé, it offers a warm, savory, gently spiced flavor that is deeply rooted in Bahian ritual and street food traditions.
A classic Bahia seafood stew simmered with coconut milk, dendê, tomatoes, onions, peppers, and cilantro. Its fragrant broth and tender fish or shellfish make it one of Salvador’s most admired dishes, especially when served with rice and pirão.
A creamy shrimp stew thickened with mashed manioc and enriched with coconut milk and dendê. The result is lush, silky, and deeply comforting, with a sweet-savory balance that is quintessentially Bahian.
A thick, luxurious paste or stew made from bread or flour, coconut milk, peanuts, cashews, ginger, and dendê. It is both a dish and a beloved accompaniment, known for its velvety texture and layered flavor.
An okra-based dish often made with dried shrimp, nuts, and palm oil, resulting in a rich, slightly mucilaginous texture and intense savory depth. In Salvador it is strongly associated with ceremonial meals and the worship of orixás in Afro-Brazilian traditions.