L'Atelier du Cuisinier

My new favorite Frenchie downtown. It is NOT expensive for what they serve. Hors-d’œuvre are perfect, and desert is awesome. The main dish is always a surprise, with some hits and misses, in my opinion.

The food is delicious, spectacular to say the least. You need to make reservations. Menu is about choices of the Chef or you can choose what you want on an assembled course. Price is in par with the place with 2 choices (89 reais + 10% service) or the full Chef Menu for 129 reais + 10% service) drinks excluded. Definitely a nice gourmet experience.

The food is wonderful! It was one of my best meals of all time. It is not cheap but totally worth it. Make sure to make a reservation before you go.

This is absolutelly the best restaurant in downtown Rio, and better very affordable. The 3 course Menu cost less than U$ 25,00. Near the Praça Mauá (2 blocks) subway and VLT station. Unusual for Rio: reservation is usually needed. Don´t miss

The best restaurant in the region, the chef cooks in an open kitchen and is very attentive, the service is very good and the food is delicious and very well served

A little piece of France in downtown Rio. You'll eat great food, have a great service and probably meet the Cheff. Don't miss.

The menues are excellent, would have wished for an a la carte menu for more variety.

Love the small bistrot environment, just make sure you book in advance it's really small

After a few days of Brazilian food, we decided to have some French food for a change. We found this place off the busy street of Av.Rio Branco. Unfortunately, this place is only open for lunch so if we are here for dinner, you are out of luck. The moment we walked in, everything is screaming French. From the old photos on the wall, to even the smallest details such as the olive oil bottle. The wine list also consists many French wines from Bordeaux to Loire. It is not a big restaurant by any measure. We were lucky that there were an open spot. We were told by the server that you often need make reservations in advance. The menu is pretty simple (see picture): fixed course with fish and muscles as main, vegetable with cheese as starter, and top it off with crème brulee, lemon sorbet as desert. We were also offered complementary cauliflower soup as a mise en bouche (pre-starter). The food was simple but very well made. From the jam to the fish fillet and to the lemon sorbet, everything reminds us of the summer of south France. And there is the cheese... We had goat cheese and Reblochon. They were amazing. Given we travel to France quite often and had our fair share of cheeses, we know a good piece of cheese when we taste one, and yes they were legit! The service was also great. The server was here to explain every single dish and what ingredients went into the dish. Overall, we really enjoyed our lunch here and lastly, we had a chance to meet the chef who is also very friendly.

The restaurant serves only one meal a day. Located on a non-descript street in the downtown this bistro is a small restaurant with amazing food. Because of its size I would recommend that anyone makes a reservation before heading there. Once the hard part is done with , you are seated promptly in a small dining room fronting an open. They have a menu a la carte but I recommend the 3 course lunch special l From the lovely amuse bouche soup, to the three appetizers, through the entree, followed by three desserts there was not a misstep; all amazing dishes accompanied by the excellent service, and a chef (Master Chef David Jobert) who enjjoys himself and his clientele. This is not 3 hour extravaganza but an hour and a quarter of fine dining at an incredibly reasonable price.

Great place for lunch in centro. French chef offers executive menu (68reais in Aug14) and few a la carte options using Brazilian fresh ingredients cooked in a perfect french fashion. So, expect savory sauces and classics (escargots, chevre and so on) Small dining room (reservation recommended). In my opinion, this was the best french cuisine behind only to the olympe of Claude Troisgros, which however requires a different budget. All the others stay behind...