Feira Hippie
Praça General Osório, Ipanema
Rio de Janeiro
One of our favorite treats in Bahia was acarajé, fried chickpea fritters. You can find acarajé stand on nearly every corner in Salvador da Bahia, however it is a little rarer in Rio de Janeiro. But fear not, we found a place to get our acarajé fix. There is an acarajé stand at the Feira Hippie “Hippy Market” in Praça General Osório, Ipanema, Sundays until 5 PM. While the main stock in trade at the Feira is clothing, bags and souvenirs, we were on a mission for another good for sale: acarajé. There are two acarajé stands bordering the feira, and we patronized the one closer to the beach, since it seemed to be doing brisker business. The stand itself is only there for the feira, but there is a complete setup – including the requisite vats of hot oil for frying the fritters. Each acarajé costs R$ 8 ($4 US), which would be considered highway robbery in Bahia.
A Taste of Bahia in Rio
However, due to our hankering for acarajé, we thought it would be worth it for a splurge. Even compared to the acarajé in Bahia, we thought the Rio rendition was extremely delicious, and it was fresh out of the fryer. Along with the acarajé, you can get the traditional topping of peppers, salad and vatapá (a sort of condiment with shrimp and palm oil). The vatapá was fresh and we loved the fresh cilantro in the salad topping. So it may cost you double of those in Bahia, but Cariocas have a place to get an acarajé fix.
Eating The World 