Chat up the older residents of a Rio favela and you’re likely to start hearing romantic stories about Brazil’s northeast: those colorful cajú and mangaba fruit trees, the clear turquoise ocean, the folksy and upbeat forró music, chewy tapioca sandwiches and cakes. Brazilians call that saudades – a longing for something lost, which may or may not exist in the form one dreamily remembers it. These are the pleasant memories many northeastern immigrants hold amidst the urban hustle of crowded Rio de Janeiro, where a working-class Brazilian knows the beach exists but easily lives a hot two-hour bus ride away from it.

From old-school botequins and lively samba clubs to neighborhood institutions serving ice-cold beer and hearty Brazilian food, explore our favorite places to eat, drink, and linger in Rio de Janeiro.

At Gebar, four cousins honor their grandmother’s Lebanese cooking with kafta, tabbouleh, kibbeh, hummus with beef and baru nuts, and a Lebanese-inflected prato feito inside Rio’s São José Market.