Casa Cavé
Rua Sete de Setembro, 127 – Centro
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro is home to some beautiful colonial architecture as well as some wonderful, classic coffee houses that would be right at home in Lisbon. Casa Cavé is one of those places, featuring excellent pastries and drinks at reasonable prices in a salon that reminded us of our time in Portugal (there are even Portuguese azulejos on the wall). Cavé used to be in a larger, more ornate building just around the corner, which still bears the name “Casa Cavé” on the front, so don’t get confused (as we did – more on that in a future post). You can now find Casa Cavé by its distinctive green sign.
Casa Cave Sign
When you first enter Casa Cavé, you are greeted by an enormous wall of cookies and a wonderful pastry counter. The specialties at Casa Cavé are Portuguese pastries sold by the unit, and many people opt to take their cookies to go (you pay by the kilo – at a very reasonable price). Once you get past the long, glass counter of treats, you arrive in the larger tea salon, “sala de cha,” where you can enjoy coffee and other snacks. The interior is pretty, with almost a Grecian twist, very much reminding us of a Lisbon coffee house.
Casa Cave Interior
The selection of pastries was pretty overwhelming, and included everything you would expect in a Portuguese bakery, with some Brazilian favorites thrown in. In the tea salon you can get everything from the bakery, as well as a selection of coffee, juices and light sandwiches. Unfortunately there were not any iced coffee selections (this is Brazil in the Summer heat of 36°C/96°F, so we were surprised)! We had a “ratinho” (true to name, the treat was shaped like a mouse/rat), miniature bem casados (Brazilian dolce de leite sandwich cookies) and pastel de nata. All of the treats were delicious and freshly-made, and we were surprised that the pastel de nata was pretty much up to Portuguese standards, with a nice flaky crust. We were also pleased that nothing set us back more than 3 reais apiece.
Casa Cave Treats
We could have spent all day sampling the baked goods at Casa Cavé, and we were happy to see some of our Portuguese favorites in Brazil (Jesuitas, Linguas de Gato, Pasteis de Nata). If you are looking for a quiet spot to relax in Rio, Casa Cavé is a perfect break from chaotic modern-day Centro.
Eating The World 