Brazilia Cafe

1526 Dresden Row
902-423-9742

As a person who works downtown, I am always looking for quick places to get a good lunch. Brazilia has consistently provided me with that.

Located on Dresden row across from Pete's, it is in a prime location to capture the downtown workforce for lunch. This family run place serves everything from Lebanese classics (falafel, shwarma etc) to club sandwiches, salads and soups. They always have a special which is more of a main meal. These include things like cabbage rolls and meat balls with rice. All the food is fresh and made from scratch.

I went twice recently and decided to write about my experiences there.

On the first day, they had a special of lemon chicken with potatoes and rice. I will never understand why so many place in Halifax serve both potatoes AND rice with their meals. Talk about carb overload! I asked them to switch the rice to a Greek salad and they were more than happy to do so.

The chicken was delicious. They used chicken breasts which can sometimes be dry. These were cooked perfectly and retained their moisture. The potatoes were cooked with the chicken and were out of this world. Whenever I've had a dish like this, the potatoes are usually cut into large wedges. These, however, were round slices. That allows for more flavour because they absorb more of the cooking liquid. I don't know what they put in their Greek salad dressing but I love it. It is tangy and spicy. Great with the lemon chicken.

A few days later, I return. This time, I decide to have something from the main menu. I choose a falafel wrap. I love falafel but it can be hard to find good versions in Halifax. They are often very dry and require a lot of sauce to be palatable. Not so here. They are moist and not overly salty, which can also be a problem with these tasty balls. Three balls are wrapped up in a pita with lettuce, tomatoes, garlic sauce and the pink things often found in these wraps. I have never known what these are, but they are delicious. Having done some research, I am lead to believe they are pickled turnip. Who knew the usually mushy root veggie could be so tasty when pickled?! I ordered the wrap with a Greek salad again. I know that I should have gotten something else to give you an idea of the scope of the menu. However, as I mentioned, the dressing is too good to bother ordering any other salad. Please forgive me.

On other occasions, I have had their club sandwich. The girls at work often order this too and we all love it. I also had their cabbage rolls recently and they were awesome. The sauce was sweet and smooth and they had rice and meat inside, which made them lighter than their all-meat counter parts.

This is a great place to grab a quick, healthy, homemade lunch. The family who runs it are all very friendly and will take the time to walk you through the menu and specials if you don't know what you want. The only thing missing is dessert. They often have cookies and sometimes banana bread. However, I think some more homemade desserts would be a welcome finish to a great lunch.