Lifestyle: Restaurant review – Rodizio Rico, Birmingham

ON a rain-sodden January day in Birmingham the Copacobana Beach and Rio Carnival seemed a long way away as my faithful dining companion and I squelched our way towards the Brazilian restaurant Rodizio Rico in The Cube.

And the weather – and the fact it was a lunchtime in January and the attached Mailbox is currently a building site – had certainly put off Brazilian barbecue and cocktail lovers because we were the sole diners in a what is a large canal-side eatery.

Only towards the end of our meal did another table become occupied.

But it only takes two to make a party and we were determined to enjoy the whole Samba experience (as was the person in charge of the music who kept it cranked up high for the duration of our stay).

For those who you who haven’t had the rodizio experience, it is a type of Brazilian restaurant where you pay a set price – in Rodizio Rico it is £14.90 at lunchtime, rising to £25 in the evenings – and then you sit there waiting to be fed large amounts of sumptuous meat.

To be fair, before that there is a bit of work to do as you are given a plate and told to help yourself from the extremely well stocked salad bar. Actually given its size is was more like a salad traffic island.

As well as countless salads from around the world the bar/island was also home to quite a few Brazilian delicacies including rice balls, bean stews and the like.

Being an old hand at this type of restaurant I held back and watched in amusement as my partner filled her plate to capacity. Unlike me, she didn’t know what was coming down the tracks.

No sooner had she sat down with her fully loaded plate than our table was approached by a man carrying a very large skewer and a sharp knife. This is the meat carver or passador and he will keep offering you delicacies from the restaurant’s charcoal pit until you turn a card on your table red side up to denote that you have had enough.

The problem is that the food is so good only someone with iron willpower – and you may have guessed that isn’t me – will be able to put out the stop sign before eating far too much.

I counted off beef skirt, sausages, chicken sausages, chicken wings, gammon, pork loin, leg of lamb, rump steak and barbecued beef amongst the cuts arriving at our table.

My partner by this stage was starting to look as green around the gills as the Caipirinha cocktail she was guzzling whilst I was starting to slide down my chair looking for a place of comfort under the table where I could undo my belt.

At times it is almost overwhelming. There might still be four or five hearty cuts of meat on your plate when you catch the passador approaching again. It reminded me of the scene in Platoon where the foxhole gets overrun.

“Have you reached the meat wall yet?” asked the front of house chap knowingly.

We had indeed.

It’s all great fun and a different way of eating. Perfect for parties but perhaps not ideal if you’ve got a 2pm business meeting.

And there is plenty of green stuff available on the salad bar if the thought of all the meat puts you off. It’s hard to believe but the restaurant even offers a vegetarian option!

For meat lovers, though, this place is heaven and in six months’ time when I’ve got my appetite back I shall return.