Jiquitaia

If you are looking for authentic Brazilian home-style cooking — crafted with quality ingredients — this is the perfect place! Jiquitaia occupies a charming 1950s house surrounded by lush greenery. Inside, a spacious dining room awaits, elegantly decorated with an abundance of warm wood and large-format photographs displayed along the walls. Paranaense chef Marcelo Corrêa Bastos delights us with heartfelt traditional cooking, the kind that nourishes the soul and warms the heart. During the week, there is a carefully crafted set lunch menu, alongside a shorter menu featuring delights such as Coxinhas de frango caipira — crispy fried dough parcels filled with free-range chicken — Moqueca de peixe com camarão, a rich fish and prawn stew, and the catch of the day grilled over charcoal, served with a flavourful pirão, a silky broth-thickened sauce made from the fish's cooking juices. It is worth noting that the house speciality is the Torresmos — gloriously crispy pork crackling — and that the restaurant offers an excellent selection of cachaças, carefully chosen by co-owner Nina Bastos and sourced from across Brazil.