Vibrant, charming, chaotic. Just some of the adjectives that might be used to describe Brazil. Your reviewer speaks from experience, having visited the country over half a dozen times. The words also constitute a perfect representation for the experience at Tia Maria, a Brazilian restaurant located in South London.
The area between Vauxhall and Stockwell probably contains London’s largest Brazilian community. It’s hardly surprising then that there are restaurants to cater for local demand. Tia Maria (a homage to someone’s Aunt, presumably, rather than the sickly sweet drink) makes wonderful use of a former pub building. Bright yellow signage for the venue kind of works against the faux-Tudor exterior. Inside, it’s more of the same, with the large space converted thoughtfully into a dining area on one side and a dancefloor on the other. While there are some tables for guests in the latter space, the main attraction here is live music on three days of the week. An outside garden area provides additional space – and this was where we began our evening. It was also where our problems began. Despite the initially warm greeting from the serving staff and the promise that someone would come outside to take our drinks order, no one appeared. After ten minutes your reviewer had to go inside in order to have his thirst satisfied and drinks eventually delivered.
Throughout, there was a similar pattern. It was hard to fault the staff on either their charm or enthusiasm, although efficiency clearly left something to be desired. Sure, a laissez-faire stance might not be out of place in either Rio or Sao Paolo, but punters in London might have somewhat higher expectations. One particularly egregious example was a table of empty dishes and glasses adjacent to ours (once we had moved indoors later in the evening) that remained uncleared – despite passing staff – for over ten minutes.
Fortunately, the issues at Tia Maria should be easily fixable and represent only a front of house problem. The food that emerged from the kitchen was competently executed and spoke authentically of Brazil. Have no doubt, there is a heavily meat-centric bias, so carnivores certainly can revel at this venue. Vegetarians, however, may be more disappointed. Our server suggested three starters (her favourites) which comprised croquettes, on-the-bone chicken chunks and cassava fries. All had received some deep batter treatment, but were pleasing in a deeply unhealthy way. Ironically our non-meat option (the cassava) was probably the pick of the trio. For our main course, my comrade and I opted to share a feijoada – the country’s national dish. It comprises pork and beef in a stew mixed with black beans. Greens and roasted cassava feature as sides. It was both flavoursome and intense and broadly comparable with similar formats I had enjoyed in-country. Wash this down with caipirinha and beer – as we did – and guests can leave happy. When you know you’re not paying much more than £30/head, there’s an additional reason to feel satisfied, even if not wowed.