Café e Bar Macaense: No Ticket? No Problem

Editor’s note: This week, in our continuing coverage of eating and drinking in Rio during the World Cup, we take you even closer to the game – about as close as you can get without a ticket, in any case.

Rio’s legendary soccer stadium, Maracanã, has been called “the temple of futebol” for more than 60 years, and these days, it’s a magnet for ever more worshippers of the Beautiful Game. Even those without a ticket are drawn to the stadium, just to be close to the party and, at the very least, to feel the undeniably intense and infectious excitement that’s in the air here.

With all the attention heaped on the stadium, those who perhaps stand to benefit most are the bars located around it. And unsurprisingly, they have been packed on days when there were matches at Maracanã. One of them, Café e Bar Macaense, has been tapped as the home of the “ticketless.” A Portuguese immigrant by the name of Mr. Manoel opened it in 1956, and these days, it’s run by his daughter, Martha, and a few relatives. It’s also better known as “Bode Cheiroso,” a nickname which means something like “smelly goat” in Portuguese and was given to it by customers more than 50 years ago on account of the bad smell in the bathroom. Nowadays, Bode Cheiroso is older and wiser and much cleaner, even on game days at Maracanã.

On those days, customers arrive early. Before noon, the bar is packed with noisy football fans, almost all of them wearing a football-related T-shirt or jersey. Cold beer is the rule here – well, ostensibly it is. Bode Cheiroso also has a secret drink, chá-de-macaco, made with cachaça, Brazilian herbs and other dubious stuff. Everybody drinks it.

For those who want to eat a little something, the bar offers a very well known sardinha frita (fried sardine), which in Rio is also known as frango marítimo (“sea chicken”); good feijoada and very fragrant – in a good way! – sliced pork leg.

A few days ago, a group of Belgium fans without tickets to the game their national team was playing against Russia at Maracanã spent the afternoon at Bode Cheiroso. Their intention was to watch the match on one of the two big TVs the bar had installed in the room. But they drank so many chás-de-macaco that, by the time the game began, they were completely – as we cariocas like to say – bebaços, and consequently forgot about the match and the World Cup entirely. (We’re pretty sure they were happy to hear how their team had fared once they recovered.)

At Bode Cheiroso, win or lose, you’ll definitely enjoy the game.

(photos courtesy of Café e Bar Macaense)

Published on July 02, 2014

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