The Icons of Brazil
Brazilians conquer Ireland mouthful by mouthful
Pao de Queijo – the Cheese Bread that “means Brazil”
“In Brazil, there’s no such thing as life without pao de queijo,” writes Giselle Makinde in her radical book, Samba.
“In Brazil, cheese bread – pao de queijo – is everywhere,” says Marcelo Cabelho of Stillorgan’s Lar Café. “It’s the kind of food that means morning, that means comfort, that means Brazil. It comes in small round balls, warm from the oven, and is almost always eaten fresh because cold cheese bread simply isn’t the same.”
“If you only make one recipe from this book, make this.” writes Giselle. “Pao de queijo fresh from the oven smells like home.”
In Lar Café, Marcelo asked himself a simple question:
“How do you bring something that iconic to Ireland, and make it your own? That vision didn’t have a template.”
Marcelo spent four months working out the answer. Testing, failing, tweaking, adjusting, failing, starting again.
What Marcelo wanted for his customers in Lar was “to serve cheese bread freshly made, right in front of the customer, on a stick, cooked to order, so that every single person walks away with the same warm, fresh experience.”
One of the major challenges was getting the cheese mix right. You can’t get the traditional cheese used in Brazil. In Samba, Giselle advises using mature Cheddar cheese, whilst for Marcelo in Lar: “The cheese blend alone was a journey. Traditional cheese bread in Brazil uses a soured local cheese that is almost impossible to source here. After extensive experimentation, I landed on a combination of Irish Mozzarella and Italian Grana Padano, the pairing that came closest to replicating that authentic stretch, depth of flavour, and golden finish.”
And then came the bit that makes the Lar Café pao quite unique. Marcelo wanted to create a nod to the traditional Irish sausage roll, so he also began to offer his pao with the option of ham or sausage. “Familiar enough to feel comfortable, different enough to feel exciting.”
It’s a brilliantly ingenious creation, just the right sort of sport of nature that drives a cuisine in new directions. And it’s not just traditional Brazilian recipes where Marcelo shows his smarts: his daily toasties are superb iterations of the staples: the Aunt Beth combines smoked Gubbeen with cheddar, roasted garlic and ham; the Bird, Bacon and Garden has honey and lime chicken, maple bacon jam, beef tomato, pickled red onion, rocket and chipotle and lime mayo.
The other fun aspect of the food at Lar Café is the surprising location, out there on Lakelands Road in the centre of suburban Stillorgan, surrounded not by offices and shops, but by – houses! A cafe where people live! Think of it as a revolutionary cell of modern Brazilian food, a place where Marcelo has created “that feeling of home, warmth, comfort, and something that surprises you in the best possible way.”
“Living abroard either makes you feel closer to your home country or disconnected from it.” writes Giselle in Samba. “Brazilians often give more value to products and ideas when they come from abroard, but once we are the ones living abroard, patriotism takes over. The longing for what we no longer have becomes a powerful reminder of where we come from and who we still are”.
Samba is a joyful rendition of Brazilian classics, that to Giselle mean “happiness, sunshine and dance”.
And more good news: Atlantico have put together all the Brazilian ingredients you need to cook your way through Samba, and you can buy the box here
And, back to that cheese bread: ham and cheese version! Lar Café is at 11b Lakelands Road, Stillorgan, Dublin A94 E4A0.
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