Oldest restaurant in Brazil is an archaeological expedition in gastronomy – 04/05/2024 – Cozinha Bruta

Sesquicentennial. I’ve always wanted to write this word, which defines someone or something’s 150th birthday. Only now did the opportunity appear – a little before my own sesquicentenary.

Café Lamas turned 150 on Thursday (4). Located in Flamengo, south of Rio, it is the oldest restaurant in Brazil.

And?

Hence, doing 150 is a feat. In 1874 Brazil was a slave monarchy. Machado de Assis still polished his verve in the second book, “A Mão e a Luva” – “Memórias Póstumas de Brás Cubas” would only be published in 1881.

The Paraguayan War had ended just four years earlier. It was from 1874 onwards that the country was able to communicate with Europe through a submarine telegraph cable.

The world was different, Brazil was different, but Lamas is still the same.

In other words: it is the same and it is also not. The original Café Lamas is dead and alive. It’s Schrödinger’s restaurant.

You can say that he died, first of all, because Lamas changed his address. It was driven from Largo do Machado by the Rio subway works in 1976. The current location is “only” 48 years old.

Furthermore, no establishment stays the same for so long. There are always renovations, the menu changes, cooks are replaced hundreds of times, generations of customers follow each other with different demands over the years.

The Lamas of 2024 is not the same as the Lamas of 1874. At the same time, anachronisms persist that refer to the restaurant’s previous incarnations.

When you cross the Lamas corridor, you don’t go back 150 years. But it certainly goes back many decades in the past. The place has a decadent charm that makes up for all the downsides of that same decadence.

In January, on the occasion of São Paulo’s birthday, I complained that the city is aging too badly and does not hesitate before disfiguring historic spaces with bizarre renovations.

Rio is better in this particular aspect. Probably because it was the imperial court and the first capital of the Republic, it shows more zeal in preserving its memory.

Lamas is a beautiful example of this care. At least in the back room (the renovated entrance has become a generic and inauspicious bar).

Back there, the installations are old, and the white light changes to the dim device. The waiters, many of whom are advancing in age, dress and serve in the old fashioned way.

It is the menu that makes the most interesting archaeological expedition possible. Lamas serves food that went out of fashion even before the change of address.

Chicken soup, tongue with Madeira sauce, Lisbon-style liver, assorted casseroles, bowl of strawberries with whipped cream, plums in syrup for dessert.

Until a while ago you could order porridge at Lamas. I don’t know if it still works. No one answered the phone, maybe one day someone will respond to the message I sent on WhatsApp. Old place things. Sorry: old.

The last time I ate at Lamas was in 2019, before the pandemic. I can bet it stays the same.

Or not.

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