A Churrasco Iftar at Fogo De Chao
In keeping with our approach to doing different kinds of Iftars this year, we found ourselves at the delightful Fogo De Chao in Central Park Tower, DIFC for a completely different take on the traditional Ramadan feast.
The first thing we noticed upon entry, aside from the sleek and a darkened interiors was how busy the restaurant was! Fogo De Chao is actually quite a large venue which is broken up into three main areas with the Iftar located in the central dining room which extends out to a terrace that overlooks downtown Dubai and the Burj. There is also an internal - outdoor area with a water fountain - clearly the sheisha spot, and finally there’s also a bar which naturally on this occasion was not operational.
At first glance it’s a chaotic scene with gaucho chefs darting all over the dining room in a synchronized symphony of meat serving. They say there’s beauty amongst chaos and what could be more enticing than endless lashings of Brazilian flamed beef?
The main dining area is centered around a large salad bar which is called the Market Table and is filled to the brim with an assortment of seasonal salads, imported cured meats and a range of fresh vegetables, cheeses, artisan breads and a whole lot more. Along with this there’s also a Feijoada Station which featured a lovely take on Carreteiro Rice, as well as Feijoada.
While that’s something to get excited about, the main reason for visiting Fogo is clearly the churrasco, which is the art of slow cooking various cuts of meat Brazilian style.
Cuts, Cuts and more Cuts.
There’s a lot on offer here for meat lovers.
A few highlights were the Picanha which is the Top Sirloin which was cooked to perfection offering a tender, robust flavor that’s synonymous with churrasco. Along with this was the Filet Mignon and the classic Beef Tenderloin. Another famously good cut was the Fraldinha - or Bottom Sirloin. Carved against the grain to ensure it’s tender and flavorful this was melt in the mouth kind of stuff. Rounding out the picks of the bunch were the Beef Ribs, which were probably the best of all on this visit. Rubbed in rock salt and grilled for hours, it’s pretty hard for that to go wrong.
There were a few misses - the Beef Ancho, Rib Eye and the Lamb were just not there in flavor or prep and came out a little dry. The Chicken Legs were great, however their off-sider wrapped in beef bacon was also a little over done.
You win some, you lose some and it would be easy to call it a churrasco fiasco, more because that rhymes than anything else but it wasn’t!
On balance there’s more than enough here to keep you satisfied and there’s seriously zero chance of leaving on an empty stomach unless you somehow forgot to keep your card turned over on the green side….but the servers are so passionate about their meat that they’d probably load your plate up anyway.
As for the table side accompaniments, both the hot sauce and the chimichuri could have done with some extra punch but hey that’s just me.
I like a bit of fire.
Of the sides, there’s some nice little treats on offer here with the Garlic Mashed Potatoes and Caramelized Bananas both being particularly good, however my favorites were the Pão De Queijo (cheesy bread rolls) and The Polenta Fries.
Rounding out the evening, we finished up with a handful of sweets, of which the crème brûlée was the clear standout - the perfectly crisp caramelized sugar did what it was supposed to do, revealing a nice velvety, creamy custard base.
Yum.
In all, with some great views, personable service and a pretty sweet offer of 199 AED for the entire Churrasco Menu along with some traditional Iftar additions and the Market Table, with Desert - the Fogo Iftar Experience, is a pretty good one for those looking to eschew the rough and tumble of a regular Iftar.
