Where can I find…? – eatrio.net – صحيفة الصوت

The 12 months after the Olympics were tough for everyone working in tourism in Rio. It seemed like people just stopped coming here. I know plenty of businesses went under during that year and the rest of us suffered.

Everyone seemed to have a theory for this decline – perhaps it was because of the scare stories of crime and corruption published around the world while Rio ‘enjoyed’ the Olympic spotlight? Was it the woeful economy? Were people still worried about Zika? My money was on the more general idea that anyone who wanted to visit Rio probably did so between 2014 (when we hosted the World Cup) and 2016 – after that they went elsewhere. In any case, it was a tough time for tourism.

One thing that kept our spirits up during that lean period was that the people who did come to Rio were still absolutely loving the experience (both of Rio in general and of our food tours specifically).

Well I’m delighted (and relieved) to report that things have been picking up over the last 6-12 months. Things are by no means back to their best, but here at Eat Rio Food Tours we’ve seen a noticeable and sustained improvement in visitor numbers. And despite the rampant Rio scare stories still doing the rounds, people are loving the tours and loving Rio in general. Here are the titles of our last 6 reviews on TripAdvisor:

-One of the best things I’ve done while in South America
-A Rio must do
-Delightful Insight in Brazilian Food and Culture
-Culinary delight
-Great way to get a better insight of the culture of Rio
-Phenomenal tour of Brazilian food, drinks and culture

During our tours we of course eat and drink all kinds of delights from across Brazil, but my guides and I also try to help our guests (often on their first day in Rio) get an understanding of what makes Rio special, where the best experiences can be found, how to get around the city safely, what to be wary of, and so on.

Over the years we’ve noticed that certain questions come up again and again. People want to know where they can find a decent selection of Brazilian wines; or where they can get a great cup of coffee; or where can they find amazing vegetarian food (we regularly receive vegetarians on our food tours) and so on.

Well, I’m always looking for ways that we can steer visitors in the right direction, add value to our tours and generally help people find the very best that Rio has to offer. Time and again I find the recommendations given by concierges and guide books can be out of date or out of step with the tastes of modern travellers. So I’ve decided to add a new heading to our already bulging website menu (up top!) which will be titled “Where can I find…?”. This will be a place to find a selection of what I consider to be the best of certain categories of thing that visitors (and residents!) seem to be wanting to search out.

I will start by listing my favourite coffee places and after that I’ll expand to include other categories such as  beer, wine, samba clubs, ice-cream, vege restaurants and more. Stay tuned, tell your friends and feel free to send over suggestions if you feel something amazing is missing.

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