Leafy streets by the botanical garden: starred Casa 201, Neapolitan pizzerias and weekend brunch at Empório Jardim.
Rubaiyat Rio grills more than ten cuts of beef inside the Jockey Club Brasileiro by the botanical garden, with a terrace over the track, in Rio de Janeiro.
OrderA premium cut from the churrasco grill; on Saturdays the traditional feijoada with a dessert buffet
TipAsk for a terrace table to look over the racetrack towards Christ the Redeemer; the glass window shows the churrasco grill at work.
Grado cooks Ligurian-inspired Italian food from chef Nello Garaventa in a 1940s Jardim Botânico house with a wood oven and open kitchen, in Rio de Janeiro.
OrderThe fixed three-course menu, with the spaghetti with clams or the breaded pork rib
TipThe sourdough bread basket opens the meal; a lobster linguine is offered as an extra on top of the fixed menu.
Sud, O Pássaro Verde is a home-style Jardim Botânico house where chef Roberta Sudbrack cooks a daily-changing menu from small producers in Rio de Janeiro.
OrderThe dish of the day from the wood oven, then the bolo de chocolate molhadinho
TipYou knock to be let in; the open kitchen and wood-fired oven are visible from the main room, and the cake never leaves the menu.
Casa 201 serves an eight-course French tasting menu from chef João Paulo Frankenfeld in a Jardim Botânico house, with one Michelin star in Rio de Janeiro.
OrderThe eight-course tasting menu, which has included raviolo nero with scallops and cauliflower
BookBook ahead; reservations only ahead
TipEvery guest is seated together at 20:00 and the house takes up to 32 people a night, so book ahead and arrive on time.
Sud is chef Roberta Sudbrack's home-like Jardim Botânico dining room, cooking from a wood-fired oven with a menu that changes daily, in Rio de Janeiro.
OrderWhatever the daily menu offers from the wood-fired oven, then the chocolate cake, always on the card
TipThe door is kept closed, so knock or announce yourself to be let in; the menu follows what small local producers deliver each day.
Rubaiyat Rio is a steakhouse inside the Jockey Club Brasileiro, with its own meat production and a terrace over the racetrack in Rio de Janeiro.
OrderA premium cut from the churrasco grill; on Saturdays, the feijoada with the dessert buffet
TipMichelin notes the terrace views of the racetrack and Christ the Redeemer; the glass window beside the kitchen shows the churrasco grill working.
Ella Pizzaria bakes wood-fired Neapolitan pizzas in a casarão on Rua Pacheco Leão in Jardim Botânico, Rio de Janeiro, and now opens for weekend lunch.
OrderThe Lombo pizza: Canadian loin, smoked scamorza, crisp Parma and chilli jelly.
TipWeekend lunch runs 12:00 to 16:00 with the full menu, and the room seats 56, so the lunch slot is the easier time to get a table.
Capricciosa Pizza D.O.C. serves pizza on Rua Maria Angélica in Jardim Botânico, Rio de Janeiro, and placed 20th in 50 Top Pizza Latin America in 2026.
OrderThe capricciosa pizza: tomato, ham, artichoke, mushrooms, bacon and egg.
TipThe operator lists a second house on Rua Vinícius de Moraes in Ipanema; this entry is the Jardim Botânico one, open evenings only.
Empório Jardim is a bakery, bistro and deli on Rua Visconde da Graça in Jardim Botânico, Rio de Janeiro, with fresh bread all day and a counter of sweets.
Worth the queueFresh bread baked all day
Janelinha Bel Trufas is the take-away window of Bel Trufas on Rua Visconde da Graça in Jardim Botânico, Rio de Janeiro, selling chocolate cake and coffee.
Worth the queueBolo mole de chocolate
TipThe window sells chocolate soft cake, carrot cake and little packets of monte, plus coffees and cappuccinos; the shop number is loja D.
Eleninha is a 40-seat bar in a heritage-listed house in Jardim Botânico, Rio de Janeiro, with shrimp wontons, fish crudo and cocktails by Alex Mesquita.
DrinkSó Prova: gin, apricot and orange bitters
FoodFish crudo, shrimp wontons, fish and chips and buns
TipIt takes no reservations and charges R$80 corkage; Revista Manchete says it won best bar at the Rio Show gastronomy awards.
Casa Camolese is billed as Rio de Janeiro's first brewpub, inside the Jockey Club by the Jardim Botânico, with its own beers tasted from the tanks.
TipThe kitchen is Mediterranean and the venue seats 300; Diário do Rio called a shrimp dish its most-ordered plate in August 2026.
Empório Jardim serves breakfast all day in a bakery, bistro and deli on Rua Visconde da Graça in Jardim Botânico, Rio de Janeiro, with no reservations taken.
OrderEggs benedict, croques, shakshukas or gougères from the all-day breakfast menu
TipThe kitchen takes its last order at 18:30, and the house asks laptop users without an order to give up their table when there is a queue.
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