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The 22 Essential Restaurants in Salvador, Brazil

Where to find black-eyed pea fritters, crab hot dogs, burnt coconut ice cream, and lots of tropical stews in the Bahian capital by the sea

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Salvador sits on Brazil’s South Atlantic coast, in the idyllic state of Bahia, home to some of northeastern Brazil’s most beautiful beaches. The vibrant city was founded in 1549 by the Portuguese as the first capital of colonial Brazil and remained that way for two centuries (before ceding the title first to Rio then Brasília), leaving a lasting historical, cultural, and culinary impact on the modern country. With the largest population of Afro-Brazilians and a complex mishmash of African, Indigenous, and European influences, Salvador has earned the local nickname “the Black Rome.”

Portuguese colonizers imposed techniques on indigenous ingredients to form much of Brazil’s cuisine, but the enslaved Africans who settled in Salvador were vital in shaping local dining too. Substantial, hearty, and tropically flavored, cozinha Baiana (Bahian cuisine) is a melting pot of European cooking methods (lots of stews), pre-Columbian ingredients (like cassava), and African spices and products (like dendê oil and okra). Food also plays an essential role in Candomblé, a syncretic Afro-Brazilian religion drawn from the cultures of enslaved West Africans. Candomblé worshipers honor different orixas (deities) with specific dishes, and those foods have blended into the broader culinary culture.

Today, casual botecos (bars) and cheerful restaurants serve popular dishes such as moqueca (Brazilian seafood stew with fish broth and cassava porridge), vatapá (seafood stew with coconut milk), and the ubiquitous street food acarajé (black-eyed pea fritters). Dive into the rich culinary heritage and booming modern restaurant scene in the capital of Bahia.

Health experts consider dining out to be a high-risk activity for the unvaccinated; it may pose a risk for the vaccinated, especially in areas with substantial COVID transmission.

Prices per person, excluding alcohol:

$ = Less than 106 Real (less than $20 USD)
$$ = 106 - 266 Real ($20 - $50 USD)
$$$ = More than 266 Real ($50 USD and up)

Rafael Tonon is a journalist and food writer living between Brazil and Portugal. He is the author of the book The Food Revolutions.

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Eater maps are curated by editors and aim to reflect a diversity of neighborhoods, cuisines, and prices. Learn more about our editorial process.

Carvão

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Brazil is famous for its steakhouses, and the best place to earn your meat sweats in Salvador is Carvão in the Chame-Chame neighborhood. Chef Ricardo Silva takes the modern steakhouse concept a bit further than most. On the menu, there are dishes influenced by American barbecue (smoked prime rib over apple tree wood), as well as seafood grilled over coals, such as octopus with hummus, baby carrot, tomatoes, and shallots. The fire, smoke, and salt add to the restaurant’s cozy atmosphere. [$$$]

One of the most awarded restaurants in Salvador, Amado is an institution. Chef and owner Edinho Engel presents wildly original creations, ranging from his signature grilled fish with cashew nut farofa, caruru (onion- and ginger-laced okra), and wild rice; to duck magret with creamy polenta, asparagus, and passionfruit roti. The restaurant is airy and elegant, and the view of the Atlantic is stunning. [$$$]

A large clam shell filled with a rice dish
Arroz de hauça
Rafael Tonon

Velho Espanha

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This 100-year-old bar in the city center closed in 2012, but new owners reopened the place in 2017. They restored the hardwood ceiling and tile floor, while chef Ariadne Maceió refreshed the menu without throwing out tradition. Try her fumeiro (homemade smoked pork meat) with banana puree, the curd cheese served with green beans vinaigrette, and pirão de leite (creamy milk and cassava porridge). [$$]

Diners sit and stand around wooden picnic tables on a warm night
The crowd outside Velho Espanha
Velho Espanha/Facebook

Encantos da Maré

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Right behind the iconic Bonfim Church, this seafood-focused restaurant sports one of the most beautiful views of Todos os Santos Bay. Chef Deliene Mota offers her take on surf and turf: mashed cassava topped with curd cheese gratin, layered with shrimp cooked in cream on one side and sun-dried beef cooked in clarified butter and onions on the other. If you’re looking for a lighter meal, try the shrimp in tapioca batter or the broiled seafood platter. Mota’s plantain stew is great for vegetarians. [$$$]

A platter of bright, huge shrimp over a stew of beans and rice
Prawns at Encantos da Maré
Encantos da Maré/Facebook

Antique Bistrô

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Set across from Carmo Church, this fashionable restaurant is located in a historic mansion with more than four centuries of history. Sit on the terrace, pick from the many varieties of caipirinhas like ginger or peach (always served with a refreshing popsicle on top), and take your time deciding what to order while you admire the view. Watch the glassed-enclosed kitchen to see chef Davi Bastos and his team preparing dishes such as grilled shrimp with creamy cheese rice or a seafood mix with lobster, squid, and mussels grilled in butter. A sweet little cocada (local macaroon) with burnt coconut syrup is a great way to finish your meal. [$$$]

Cadê Q'Chama?

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Head to Cadê Q’Chama for hearty regional dishes: vatapá (a stew made of spicy prawn paste mixed with dendê oil, peanuts, and coconut milk), moqueca, and xinxim de galinha (chicken ragout). The casual restaurant now also serves a four-course tasting menu that changes weekly, so guests can try dishes like sarapatel (a mishmash stew with pork meat and offal), stewed beef tongue, and rabada (oxtail with watercress). [$$]

A large wooden board set on a table bearing large ceramic pots of various stews and rice dishes
Tasting menu at Cadê Q’Chama?
Cadê Q’Chama?/Facebook

Café e Cana Botequim

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This new, colorful boteco (no-frills bar) in the Carmo neighborhood is the perfect spot to chill with a beer and some snacks after visiting the Historic Center. Cocktails come in large glasses, perfect for quenching the thirst kicked up by the golden, crispy cod fritters. Consider the bar’s version of a caipirinha with cachaça, aridan beans, cashew, and lemon syrup. If you’re still hungry, order Baião de doido, a vegan take on the famous Brazilian dish Baião de dois (a mixture of jerked beef or bacon with the two ubiquitous local ingredients: rice and beans). The version here is served with pumpkin, okra, and smoked tofu in place of meat. [$$]

A bar interior, with high wood ceilings decorated with colorful banners, casual picnic tables where guests sit and drink, and large windows
Inside Café e Cana Botequim
Café e Cana/Facebook

Di Janela

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Nara Amaral opened Di Janela to serve her close friends, but word got around and the casual restaurant became an immediate hit. Located close to the famous Pelourinho, on a cobbled street surrounded by aging homes, the restaurant serves well-crafted snacks like the arancini baiano (rice fritters stuffed with shrimp and palm oil) and hearty dishes like her indispensable octopus rice. Sidewalk tables are always busy, so get there early. [$$]

Sorveteria da Ribeira

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In a city where the temperature never drops below 80 degrees, ice cream is a way of life. Locals and tourists head down to Cidade Baixa, the low-lying area along the water, just to taste the cones at Sorveteria da Ribeira. The shop produces artisanal flavors that go beyond the conventional palate, such as burnt coconut, corn, banana, and tamarind, as well as Brazilian fruits such as umbu, cupuaçu, and soursop. [$]

Hands holding cones of brightly colored ice cream. Someone comes in for a bite of the cone in the background
Bright, flavorful cones
Sorveteria da Ribeira/Facebook

Restaurante Manga

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Eating at Manga feels like dining at a friend’s house. Owners Dante and Kafe Bassi set up shop in Rio Vermelho in 2020 among a new crop of restaurants in Salvador. Diners stream in on Sunday mornings for creative sandwiches: crispy chicken with curd and gruyere, or smoked salmon with creme fraîche, avocado, and nori mayo. Dinner includes more sophisticated dishes, such as beef crudo with grilled rib gelatin, potato crisps, and mustard pickles; or luscious crab soup with corn, celery, and mushrooms. To pair, there are refreshing and inventive cocktails, such as Eugenia, with gin, Brazilian cherry leaves, cucumber, and tonic. [$$]

From above, an ornate dish setup, with a long strip of cooked bone marrow, a bowl of jellied sea urchin, and small bowls of bright green condiments
Bone marrow with sea urchin custard, okra seeds, and seaweed crisp
Restaurante Manga

Acarajé da Cira

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Don’t leave Salvador without tasting acarajé, the city’s famous street food. Wads of crushed black-eyed peas are deep-fried in dendê palm oil until golden, then split in half and stuffed with flavorful, spicy pastes of dried shrimp, onions, and cilantro. The acarajés come in a variety of spice levels, but be cautious with your first order. In Bahia, “hot” means really hot. [$]

Casa de Tereza

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Energetic chef Tereza Paim was one of the first to show the world Bahian cuisine could shine in a restaurant setting, not just a family home kitchen. Casa de Teresa in Rio Vermelho serves as a charming temple to the region’s food, with various ecstatically decorated dining rooms named in honor of Bahian cultural symbols, such as the deities of Candomblé. Start with snacks like mix Baiano (a mixture of the chef’s best bites, such as fish and feijoada fritters). Definitely don’t miss the moqueca; Paim is known as the local moqueca queen. [$$$]

Dona Mariquita

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At this homey restaurant in the Rio Vermelho neighborhood, chef Leila Carreiro serves what she calls “heritage cuisine.” For a decade she has focused on regional dishes, including those typically served as street food in the markets of Bahia and the recipes that locals cherish most. You’ll find peguari (fighting conch), a summertime classic here served with cashew vinaigrette, as well as hauçá rice, coconut and beef rice fried in palm oil with dried shrimp. [$$]

Crispy fried crabs on a platter beside small bowls of slaw and chopped salad sides
Soft-shell crabs
Rafael Tonon

Blue Praia Bar

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Blue Praia (Beach) Bar mixes the environs of a beach club (gazebos, Balinese beds, beachfront huts) with a bar and restaurant on the charming Buracão Beach. Relax in the sun on one of the lounge chairs and order a cocktail from their award-winning list, such as Matchá (pisco, sugar syrup, tangerine juice, egg white, and angostura) or the popular Negroni Spritz (gin, Campari, sparkling wine, Cinzano 1757, bitters). Recover after a dip in the sea with the shrimp in tapioca batter or cod croquettes. [$$$]

Small plots with beds, beach umbrellas, and tables dine their way down a hillside beneath swaying palm trees toward a beachy cove where sunbathers are visible beneath more umbrellas
Rambling beds and gazebos
Blue Praia Bar/Facebook

Paraíso Tropical

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Chef Beto Pimentel earned a reputation three decades ago as a trailblazer taking cozinha Baiana to a higher gastronomic level, winning Paraíso Tropical fame and awards along the way. Today he continues to merge local seafood with Brazilian fruits and native herbs, many grown in his own garden, and his skills are evident in signature dishes such as caldo de sururu (a fresh yet rich shellfish soup) or rice with peguari (fighting conch) with herbs, coconut slices, licuri palm, and Brazilian cherry. [$$$]

A large, light-colored stew with thick strips of octopus, huge shrimp, and brightly colored flowers and herbs
Shrimp and octopus moqueca
Beto Pimentel Chef/Facebook

Djalma's Drinks

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This dive bar in Pituba is a bit of a local secret. Don’t expect exceptional cocktails, but the beer is always very cold — or “stupidly cold,” as Brazilians say — and the service is always kind and friendly. On the menu, the food is simple but very enjoyable; go for fish stew or the always-fresh crab salad. [$]

In this original and cozy seafood-focused restaurant in the Pituba neighborhood, chef Kaywa Wilton (son of a Bahian father and a French mother) wants to showcase the versatility of ingredients that come from the sea. His modern inventions include crab hot dogs, a tuna belly smash burger, and fish tiradito made with the catch of the day. Look out for Wilton’s new branch in Praia do Forte too. [$$]

Tucked in the Villa San Luigi food hall in the Pituba neighborhood, Pepo contends for the title of best Italian restaurant in Salvador. Homemade pastas like casarecce, rigatoni, and fettuccine are the highlights of the menu. Start with well-fried arancini or the shrimp with beet risotto before ordering more substantial dishes, such as the 12-hour baked beef rib accompanied by gnocchi covered with fonduta. [$$$]

La Bottega

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At sophisticated La Bottega, Brazilian ingredients star in well-crafted cocktails such as Feroce (cachaça, mixed citrus, and herbs syrup made with cilantro and basil), and Maní Garnish (with gin, thyme, cashew shrub, and lemon). Snacks lean Italian: beef and cheese pasteis (deep-fried, pocket-thin crust pie), baked burrata, and bruschettas. The wine list, focused on Italian labels, is one of the best in town. [$$]

As its name suggests, this is the restaurant where chef Fabrício Lemos and his wife, pastry chef Lisiane Arouca, began researching the biomes of his native Bahia, the flora and fauna that shaped the culinary identity of his people. They now control a small empire in the city, with a casual restaurant (Ori), speakeasy (Gem), and seafood-focused venue (Omi). At Origem, Lemos has championed culinary techniques that have fallen into disuse. For instance, from the Recôncavo region — home to some of the Bahian dishes with the clearest links to African heritage — Lemos serves efó, a stew made with a native herb called cow’s tongue, mixed with dried shrimp, peanuts, and chestnuts. The 14-course tasting menu also includes breaded shrimp in cornmeal served with bisque and roasted corn, tuna belly with lucine clams foam, octopus with vatapá, and okra. Arouca’s desserts follow the same rules: local ingredients in vibrant, creative preparations. [$$$]

A curly chip filled with beans, vegetables, and popcorn
Corn crisps
Rafael Tonon

Bar do Jonas

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As night falls, the outdoor tables at this lively bar in the Rio Vermelho neighborhood become crowded with talkative guests, bottles of cold beer, and tasty petiscos (snacks). Order up some jerked beef with squash puree or cod fritters, which come to the table in portions, making them easier to share. Bar do Jonas is also a great place to try Bahia’s take on roskas, fruity vodka-based caipirinhas; try the tangerine or pineapple flavors. [$]

705 Restaurante e Bar

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Contemporary, Latin, Mediterranean — there’s a little bit of everything in the menu at 705, which ranges from ceviche to risotto. Chef Raony Menezes masterfully balances flavors in dishes such as seafood rice with shrimp, squid, lucine clams, and octopus, as well as moqueca with coconut rice and dendê farofa (manioc flour toasted in dendê oil). Be sure to start with the mini abará, mashed black-eyed peas steamed in a banana leaf, served with vinaigrette and spicy sauce. [$$]

From above, a handled pan filled with seafood-studded rice, including shrimp and mussels
Seafood rice
705 Restaurante e Bar

Carvão

Brazil is famous for its steakhouses, and the best place to earn your meat sweats in Salvador is Carvão in the Chame-Chame neighborhood. Chef Ricardo Silva takes the modern steakhouse concept a bit further than most. On the menu, there are dishes influenced by American barbecue (smoked prime rib over apple tree wood), as well as seafood grilled over coals, such as octopus with hummus, baby carrot, tomatoes, and shallots. The fire, smoke, and salt add to the restaurant’s cozy atmosphere. [$$$]

Amado

One of the most awarded restaurants in Salvador, Amado is an institution. Chef and owner Edinho Engel presents wildly original creations, ranging from his signature grilled fish with cashew nut farofa, caruru (onion- and ginger-laced okra), and wild rice; to duck magret with creamy polenta, asparagus, and passionfruit roti. The restaurant is airy and elegant, and the view of the Atlantic is stunning. [$$$]

A large clam shell filled with a rice dish
Arroz de hauça
Rafael Tonon

Velho Espanha

This 100-year-old bar in the city center closed in 2012, but new owners reopened the place in 2017. They restored the hardwood ceiling and tile floor, while chef Ariadne Maceió refreshed the menu without throwing out tradition. Try her fumeiro (homemade smoked pork meat) with banana puree, the curd cheese served with green beans vinaigrette, and pirão de leite (creamy milk and cassava porridge). [$$]

Diners sit and stand around wooden picnic tables on a warm night
The crowd outside Velho Espanha
Velho Espanha/Facebook

Encantos da Maré

Right behind the iconic Bonfim Church, this seafood-focused restaurant sports one of the most beautiful views of Todos os Santos Bay. Chef Deliene Mota offers her take on surf and turf: mashed cassava topped with curd cheese gratin, layered with shrimp cooked in cream on one side and sun-dried beef cooked in clarified butter and onions on the other. If you’re looking for a lighter meal, try the shrimp in tapioca batter or the broiled seafood platter. Mota’s plantain stew is great for vegetarians. [$$$]

A platter of bright, huge shrimp over a stew of beans and rice
Prawns at Encantos da Maré
Encantos da Maré/Facebook

Antique Bistrô

Set across from Carmo Church, this fashionable restaurant is located in a historic mansion with more than four centuries of history. Sit on the terrace, pick from the many varieties of caipirinhas like ginger or peach (always served with a refreshing popsicle on top), and take your time deciding what to order while you admire the view. Watch the glassed-enclosed kitchen to see chef Davi Bastos and his team preparing dishes such as grilled shrimp with creamy cheese rice or a seafood mix with lobster, squid, and mussels grilled in butter. A sweet little cocada (local macaroon) with burnt coconut syrup is a great way to finish your meal. [$$$]

Cadê Q'Chama?

Head to Cadê Q’Chama for hearty regional dishes: vatapá (a stew made of spicy prawn paste mixed with dendê oil, peanuts, and coconut milk), moqueca, and xinxim de galinha (chicken ragout). The casual restaurant now also serves a four-course tasting menu that changes weekly, so guests can try dishes like sarapatel (a mishmash stew with pork meat and offal), stewed beef tongue, and rabada (oxtail with watercress). [$$]

A large wooden board set on a table bearing large ceramic pots of various stews and rice dishes
Tasting menu at Cadê Q’Chama?
Cadê Q’Chama?/Facebook

Café e Cana Botequim

This new, colorful boteco (no-frills bar) in the Carmo neighborhood is the perfect spot to chill with a beer and some snacks after visiting the Historic Center. Cocktails come in large glasses, perfect for quenching the thirst kicked up by the golden, crispy cod fritters. Consider the bar’s version of a caipirinha with cachaça, aridan beans, cashew, and lemon syrup. If you’re still hungry, order Baião de doido, a vegan take on the famous Brazilian dish Baião de dois (a mixture of jerked beef or bacon with the two ubiquitous local ingredients: rice and beans). The version here is served with pumpkin, okra, and smoked tofu in place of meat. [$$]

A bar interior, with high wood ceilings decorated with colorful banners, casual picnic tables where guests sit and drink, and large windows
Inside Café e Cana Botequim
Café e Cana/Facebook

Di Janela

Nara Amaral opened Di Janela to serve her close friends, but word got around and the casual restaurant became an immediate hit. Located close to the famous Pelourinho, on a cobbled street surrounded by aging homes, the restaurant serves well-crafted snacks like the arancini baiano (rice fritters stuffed with shrimp and palm oil) and hearty dishes like her indispensable octopus rice. Sidewalk tables are always busy, so get there early. [$$]

Sorveteria da Ribeira

In a city where the temperature never drops below 80 degrees, ice cream is a way of life. Locals and tourists head down to Cidade Baixa, the low-lying area along the water, just to taste the cones at Sorveteria da Ribeira. The shop produces artisanal flavors that go beyond the conventional palate, such as burnt coconut, corn, banana, and tamarind, as well as Brazilian fruits such as umbu, cupuaçu, and soursop. [$]

Hands holding cones of brightly colored ice cream. Someone comes in for a bite of the cone in the background
Bright, flavorful cones
Sorveteria da Ribeira/Facebook

Restaurante Manga

Eating at Manga feels like dining at a friend’s house. Owners Dante and Kafe Bassi set up shop in Rio Vermelho in 2020 among a new crop of restaurants in Salvador. Diners stream in on Sunday mornings for creative sandwiches: crispy chicken with curd and gruyere, or smoked salmon with creme fraîche, avocado, and nori mayo. Dinner includes more sophisticated dishes, such as beef crudo with grilled rib gelatin, potato crisps, and mustard pickles; or luscious crab soup with corn, celery, and mushrooms. To pair, there are refreshing and inventive cocktails, such as Eugenia, with gin, Brazilian cherry leaves, cucumber, and tonic. [$$]

From above, an ornate dish setup, with a long strip of cooked bone marrow, a bowl of jellied sea urchin, and small bowls of bright green condiments
Bone marrow with sea urchin custard, okra seeds, and seaweed crisp
Restaurante Manga

Acarajé da Cira

Don’t leave Salvador without tasting acarajé, the city’s famous street food. Wads of crushed black-eyed peas are deep-fried in dendê palm oil until golden, then split in half and stuffed with flavorful, spicy pastes of dried shrimp, onions, and cilantro. The acarajés come in a variety of spice levels, but be cautious with your first order. In Bahia, “hot” means really hot. [$]

Casa de Tereza

Energetic chef Tereza Paim was one of the first to show the world Bahian cuisine could shine in a restaurant setting, not just a family home kitchen. Casa de Teresa in Rio Vermelho serves as a charming temple to the region’s food, with various ecstatically decorated dining rooms named in honor of Bahian cultural symbols, such as the deities of Candomblé. Start with snacks like mix Baiano (a mixture of the chef’s best bites, such as fish and feijoada fritters). Definitely don’t miss the moqueca; Paim is known as the local moqueca queen. [$$$]

Dona Mariquita

At this homey restaurant in the Rio Vermelho neighborhood, chef Leila Carreiro serves what she calls “heritage cuisine.” For a decade she has focused on regional dishes, including those typically served as street food in the markets of Bahia and the recipes that locals cherish most. You’ll find peguari (fighting conch), a summertime classic here served with cashew vinaigrette, as well as hauçá rice, coconut and beef rice fried in palm oil with dried shrimp. [$$]

Crispy fried crabs on a platter beside small bowls of slaw and chopped salad sides
Soft-shell crabs
Rafael Tonon

Blue Praia Bar

Blue Praia (Beach) Bar mixes the environs of a beach club (gazebos, Balinese beds, beachfront huts) with a bar and restaurant on the charming Buracão Beach. Relax in the sun on one of the lounge chairs and order a cocktail from their award-winning list, such as Matchá (pisco, sugar syrup, tangerine juice, egg white, and angostura) or the popular Negroni Spritz (gin, Campari, sparkling wine, Cinzano 1757, bitters). Recover after a dip in the sea with the shrimp in tapioca batter or cod croquettes. [$$$]

Small plots with beds, beach umbrellas, and tables dine their way down a hillside beneath swaying palm trees toward a beachy cove where sunbathers are visible beneath more umbrellas
Rambling beds and gazebos
Blue Praia Bar/Facebook

Paraíso Tropical

Chef Beto Pimentel earned a reputation three decades ago as a trailblazer taking cozinha Baiana to a higher gastronomic level, winning Paraíso Tropical fame and awards along the way. Today he continues to merge local seafood with Brazilian fruits and native herbs, many grown in his own garden, and his skills are evident in signature dishes such as caldo de sururu (a fresh yet rich shellfish soup) or rice with peguari (fighting conch) with herbs, coconut slices, licuri palm, and Brazilian cherry. [$$$]

A large, light-colored stew with thick strips of octopus, huge shrimp, and brightly colored flowers and herbs
Shrimp and octopus moqueca
Beto Pimentel Chef/Facebook

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Djalma's Drinks

This dive bar in Pituba is a bit of a local secret. Don’t expect exceptional cocktails, but the beer is always very cold — or “stupidly cold,” as Brazilians say — and the service is always kind and friendly. On the menu, the food is simple but very enjoyable; go for fish stew or the always-fresh crab salad. [$]

Boia

In this original and cozy seafood-focused restaurant in the Pituba neighborhood, chef Kaywa Wilton (son of a Bahian father and a French mother) wants to showcase the versatility of ingredients that come from the sea. His modern inventions include crab hot dogs, a tuna belly smash burger, and fish tiradito made with the catch of the day. Look out for Wilton’s new branch in Praia do Forte too. [$$]

Pepo

Tucked in the Villa San Luigi food hall in the Pituba neighborhood, Pepo contends for the title of best Italian restaurant in Salvador. Homemade pastas like casarecce, rigatoni, and fettuccine are the highlights of the menu. Start with well-fried arancini or the shrimp with beet risotto before ordering more substantial dishes, such as the 12-hour baked beef rib accompanied by gnocchi covered with fonduta. [$$$]

La Bottega

At sophisticated La Bottega, Brazilian ingredients star in well-crafted cocktails such as Feroce (cachaça, mixed citrus, and herbs syrup made with cilantro and basil), and Maní Garnish (with gin, thyme, cashew shrub, and lemon). Snacks lean Italian: beef and cheese pasteis (deep-fried, pocket-thin crust pie), baked burrata, and bruschettas. The wine list, focused on Italian labels, is one of the best in town. [$$]

Origem

As its name suggests, this is the restaurant where chef Fabrício Lemos and his wife, pastry chef Lisiane Arouca, began researching the biomes of his native Bahia, the flora and fauna that shaped the culinary identity of his people. They now control a small empire in the city, with a casual restaurant (Ori), speakeasy (Gem), and seafood-focused venue (Omi). At Origem, Lemos has championed culinary techniques that have fallen into disuse. For instance, from the Recôncavo region — home to some of the Bahian dishes with the clearest links to African heritage — Lemos serves efó, a stew made with a native herb called cow’s tongue, mixed with dried shrimp, peanuts, and chestnuts. The 14-course tasting menu also includes breaded shrimp in cornmeal served with bisque and roasted corn, tuna belly with lucine clams foam, octopus with vatapá, and okra. Arouca’s desserts follow the same rules: local ingredients in vibrant, creative preparations. [$$$]

A curly chip filled with beans, vegetables, and popcorn
Corn crisps
Rafael Tonon

Bar do Jonas

As night falls, the outdoor tables at this lively bar in the Rio Vermelho neighborhood become crowded with talkative guests, bottles of cold beer, and tasty petiscos (snacks). Order up some jerked beef with squash puree or cod fritters, which come to the table in portions, making them easier to share. Bar do Jonas is also a great place to try Bahia’s take on roskas, fruity vodka-based caipirinhas; try the tangerine or pineapple flavors. [$]

705 Restaurante e Bar

Contemporary, Latin, Mediterranean — there’s a little bit of everything in the menu at 705, which ranges from ceviche to risotto. Chef Raony Menezes masterfully balances flavors in dishes such as seafood rice with shrimp, squid, lucine clams, and octopus, as well as moqueca with coconut rice and dendê farofa (manioc flour toasted in dendê oil). Be sure to start with the mini abará, mashed black-eyed peas steamed in a banana leaf, served with vinaigrette and spicy sauce. [$$]

From above, a handled pan filled with seafood-studded rice, including shrimp and mussels
Seafood rice
705 Restaurante e Bar

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