Brazilian Restaurant Churrascaria - Concord (17th June)

        It's funny how plans sometimes get thrown out the window and what you had originally planned ends up being something else completely different. A few weeks ago (or maybe it's a month ago now), Ryan had a Thursday night off work (because he had to sacrifice his Friday night off to take someone else's shift because they weren't able to work). Ryan wanted to go do some late night shopping at Parramatta and have dinner before hand somewhere close by. 

        We didn't end up leaving his place until around 6 so by then Westbound traffic was quite heavy, we approached Parramatta Road to only turn in the opposite direction because there was no way we were going to spend half our night sitting in traffic. "So what now?" I ask him, "Let's go have dinner somewhere local then, how about Concord? Then  we can head to Burwood for a bit of shopping afterwards" he replies. So that's what we end up doing.

        It had been a while since we had been to Majors Bay Rd, and thanks to Twitter I had read that there were a few new enticing eateries to check out which I mentioned to ryan so what better chance to go have a bit of a sticky beak. We are always a little indecisive when it comes to choosing a place to eat at, this time was no different, we walked up and down and up checking out all the possibilities, we had a couple of favourites that we would always come to but thought we should try and choose a place we hadn't eaten at before. 

        We walk past this new restaurant which we hadn't seen before and were a little apprehensive a first as it was a little empty but then being a cold Thursday night most of the other places were the same. It is the Brazalian Restaurant Churrascaria. Seeing it was new and that we actually hadn't had Brazilian food before we thought we would give it a go. I'm glad Ryan didn't drag us back to Chilli Jam again, not that it's a bad place, but a change every so often is good.

        The staff are very friendly, quick, efficient but not overwhelming. There are two dining options, either the "all you can eat" Brazilian BBQ menu or the a la carte menu. The waiter explains, that there are two options to the BBQ, one for $38 a person and one for $45 which includes seafood choices. You have a list of choices per option and you can order whatever you want from the list and they will bring it out to you, as much as you want to eat until you are full I guess. 

        Though it sounds tempting we opt for the a la carte menu as we know we don't quite have the appetite for it on this particular night. As I'm not going to be behind the wheel until much later I decide to have one of their cocktails, called the "Brazilian". Can't remember exactly what was in it but it had melons, and mint and was quite tropical-ish and was absolutely yummy.

        We skip on the starters seeing as it's technically still mid week and I chose the Brazilian Seafood Hotpot ($29) - A delicious combination of king prawns, baby octopus, fish fillet lightly spiced in coconut milk and tomato sauce, served with rice.

        The seafood was all well cooked, though Ryan thinks the prawns were just ever so slightly over done. The baby octopus was tender and the fish fillets were firm and well seasoned. Now Ryan is not one who tends to eat alot of fish, but he really liked the way the fish was cooked in this dish. The coconut milk and tomato sauce was packed full of flavour, sweet, savoury, spicey, it was too good to waste so we order some extra bread to mop it all up. We're also pleasantly suprised to find out the bread came complimentary.

        Ryan chose the Brazilian Tapas Plate ($26) - Combination of fried banana, cassava chips, smoked BBQ sausages and beef served with bread, green leaves and garlic dip. A very tasty tasting plate this was. The sausages and beef were very tasty though the beef was a little chewy, the sausages had a noticeable but nice smokiness to them. What impressed us was the fried banana and casava chips. We've had banana fritters before but these little cubes were special, they were coated in a cinnamon sugar which gave them this whole new dimenion and paired with the savoury meats, it was tantalising on the taste buds. 

        I also really like the casava chips which were more cube/wedge like. I've always loved casava plain on it's own or cooked in Vietnamese sweets/desserts but this gave me a whole new experience eating it with the meats. The garlic dip was quite addictive as we both wanted to dip everything we could in it, I end up wiping the small dish clean with the bread.

        We were interested in what they had to offer for dessert too but by the time we were done eating we were pretty stuffed and couldn't possibly fit anything else in.

        We both agree that we like this place. The food was tasty, the ambience was good, service was good. Price wise it was a little on the high side especially for just a mid week casual dinner but definately a place to come back to if we felt a little bit more idulgent or had something to celebrate. The price though is totally worth it considering the quality of food and service that was delivered. It was a Thursday night so things could possibly be different on the busier weekend but I really hope that they are consistent in what they deliver. I can't wait to come back and try some other things from the menu, perhaps even the BBQ menu if I have the space for it.

        *I forgot to mention that they also do have a pretty good value lunch menu so if you work in the area I'd definately come down and check it out*

***Don't forget to enter my first giveaway - An Edgell Hamper worth approximately $100, the basket is pretty sexy!***