Dear Cherry,

During 1999 I made two trips to South America, which included Brazil.  Three of the four things I loved about Brazil were the Caipirinha Cocktails, the Brazilian Steakhouses, and the Music.  I have discovered that I can find all of this in Beijing at Churrascos Brazilian Restaurant at Crowne Plaza Park View Wuzhou Hotel.  Excited about my renewed opportunity to experience a Brazilian style steakhouse, commonly referred to as a Charuscarria, I arrived early and had the wonderful experience of being greeted by the beautiful and smiling duo of Iceman Du, Food & Beverage Marketing Manager, and Peggy Mao, Restaurant Supervisor.  Peggy skillfully shook up a martini for me, which I enjoyed while interviewing Iceman Du about her experiences in this restaurant.  She joined the Crowne Plaza Park View Wuzhou Hotel at pre-opening in 2003 and worked in Churrascos Brazilian Restaurant beginning in 2004.  She likes working there because the restaurant provides a relaxing environment for the guests to enjoy the family style service and ambience for great Brazilian drinks and food.  Because of this friendly atmosphere, they have many loyal repeat guests.  Iceman is confident that they have created an environment where the guests will come, have fun, enjoy the drinks, food, and service, and most importantly, come back for more!  She told me that everything in the restaurant is Brazilian, not only the food, but the decoration and costumes, the music, even the rustic cutlery and the special drinks.  The official Brazilian cocktail is called a Caipirinha, made from Sugar Cane Spirit (Brazilian Rum), Lime, and Sugar.  Iceman told me “the Caipirinha tastes light and smells good with the lime and rum, but when you swallow, it fires your throat like the meat cooking on the fire and makes you want more.”  I said, “Sounds like my kind of drink!”  Other variations of this drink are offered; the Caipirosca, same as a Caipirinha but the rum is replaced by vodka; and Caipirissima, same as a Caipirinha but the Brazilian Sugar Cane Rum is replaced by Bacardi.  Also offered is Sangria prepared on site from fruit and red wine.  They prefer to use 1421 Silver Cabernet Sauvignon from Xinjiang, China because it is unoaked, and makes an easy drinking, light and fruity Sangria.  You, as I did, may be wondering how Iceman got her name.  When I asked, she told me she used to be a bartender, working intently with a serious expression on her face while shaking up her icy cocktails.  For her skills with the ice and her serious look while working, she was given the name of Iceman.  Finding Iceman far from icy, we finished our delightful conversation and it was time for me to shift my attentions to Peggy Mao, who upon my request rolled a very nice drink cart over to my table and made a beautiful Caipirinha for me from the special Sugar Cane Rum, Cachaca Velho Barreiro, distilled in Brazil and then aged in barrel.  The formula is 3 oz. rum, ½ of a lime cut in 8 pieces, and 2 spoons of sugar.  Mull the sugar and lime, add the rum and ice, shake, and pour everything into a rocks glass.  I trust you will love it as I did, especially if Peggy makes it for you!  I liked watching the process and enjoyed the drink so much, I asked Peggy to come back and do it again so I could really pay attention.  I want to make these drinks at home.  Enthralled with it all, I asked if she could sell me a bottle of that rum, which I will pick up on my next visit!  Reluctantly, I allowed Peggy to attend to other guests while I enjoyed my Caipirinha and looked over the chalkboard listing the nightly specials.  The special of the day was a Seafood Skewer, including 2 Tiger Prawns and 2 fillets of Sea Bass grilled on a skewer with multiple colored Bell Peppers.  Having completed my initial drinking phase, I was joined by my colleague Ken Chan for the balance of the evening.  We had a nice talk with Eric-Jan Van Haastrecht, Director of Food & Beverage, about our plans for the evening and how much fun we were already having with his friendly staff.  This was going to be easy and lots of food was coming, particularly meat! 

The Wine List included the IHG Corporate offerings of 4 Whites from Chile, China, Argentina, and Australia; and 6 Reds from China, Australia, France, and Italy.  All of these wines are offered by the glass or bottle.  Also offered by the bottle are 1421 Silver Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon from Xinjiang, China.

There is no formal menu for a Charuscarria, but Eric provided the following list of what is offered to the guests:

Brazilian Churrascos B.B.Q Menu, (RMB 168)

Brazilian Pepper Corn Bread

With Butter and Brazilian Beef Pate

Ox – Rump Cap

Ox – Hump

Tender Loin

Sirloin Steak

Beef with Onion and Peppers

Beef Bacon Roll

Ox - Tongue

Chicken Leg

Chicken Wing

Chicken Heart

Chicken Bacon Roll

Pork Rib

Pork Sausage

Pork Neck

Lamb Loin

Squid

Grilled Pineapple

Grilled Banana

With Additional Seafood, (RMB 278)

Half Baby Lobster

Scallop

Sea Bass Fish

Prawns

B.B.Q Items served with Fresh Mint Sauce, Vinaigrette Sauce, and Peppers Sauce

2 Daily Soups served with Croutons

SALAD BUFFET

6 kinds of vegetables leaves:

Iceberg lettuce, water cress, red and yellow endives, romaine lettuce, and lollo rosso; and 9 mixed vegetables salads every day from a selection of over 200 different salads

SALAD DRESSING

Yellow Bell Pepper dressing

Red Bell Pepper dressing

Green Bell Pepper dressing

Yogurt Mint dressing

Mustard dressing

Fruits Peppercorn dressing

Balsamic with Herbs dressing

Brazilian Spice dressing

CONDIMENTS

Green Olives, Black Olives, Shallots, Onions with Chili (homemade)

Sour Cucumber, Wall nuts, Dry Shallots, Dry Garlic

Olive Oil, Balsamic, Red vinegar, Chili Maggi Sauce

Pine Kernels, Raisins, Pistachios, Peanuts

DESSERTS

8 kinds of cubed Fruits

7 kinds of whole Fruits

8 kinds of fine selected Cakes

Sago with Milk

The normal process for a Charuscarria is to begin with a Salad and/or Soup from the buffet.  On the table by each person is a rock painted green on one side and red on the other.  When the rock is turned green side up, the servers will come to the table with a skewer of one of the many meats cooking on the open grill.  They will alternate between the meat options and roam around the dining room offering each meat to every guest who has turned their rock green side up.  There are usually 2 guys moving around the restaurant with skewers at any time.  If you need a break from the meats, or if you are finished, just turn the red side up and the servers will not offer their current selection.  I decided that I would start with a Salad from the buffet, transition to the special Seafood Skewer, and finally turn my rock to green and enjoy the festival of meats.  I ordered a bottle of 1421 Silver Cabernet Sauvignon from Xinjiang, China and proceeded to the buffet to put together a Salad.  Here I met Chef de Cuisine Humberto, with the nickname of BETO, who showed me the skewers of many meats and a pineapple cooking over the hot grill.  It was very hot standing there but the smells coming out of that grill were spectacular and made me very hungry.  He explained how the meats were marinated with an olive oil base with various additions of vinegar, spices, and Chinese sea salt.  He showed me his pork-seasoning blend.  It smelled so fantastic, I asked if I could take a little of his special spice mixture home with me.  Wrapped in foil, a couple of ounces were soon in my pocket and I imagined the sautéed pork chops I will soon prepare with this magic blend of spices.  Back to reality, I chose a Salad of Mixed Greens with Cilantro Cream Dressing and some Potato Salad.  Offered on the buffet were a whole array of salads as well as soups and desserts.  The Potato Salad was creamy with slices of apples to sweeten it up. The Mixed Greens were cool and the dressing was sweet and pungent due to the cilantro.  It was good!  Next I ordered my Seafood Skewer and poured a glass of red wine.  One of the waitresses dressed in traditional Brazilian costume and wearing a variation of a cowboy hat, brought a hot loaf of round bread on a wooden plank with butter, margarine, and a pate of beef to spread on the bread.  I tried some with butter and the beef pate and sipped on my wine until the waitress returned with my Seafood Skewer.  Sharing this with my friend Ken, the Sea Bass was tender and served skin-on.   Ken recommended a little salt, so we added some and it made the fish even better.  The Prawns were grilled with accompanying Onions and Red Peppers and I liked the smoky grilled flavors, which had permeated the food.  This was good with the easy drinking medium bodied red wine.  With a bed of vegetables and a wedge of the hot bread and butter in my stomach, I was ready to start with the meats.  Our skewer servers for the evening were Zico Dong, Peter Ren, and Kevin Xu, all fresh off the boat from Brazil, just kidding, but they looked great in their traditional Brazilian costumes and hats.  The first was Beef Rump Roast sliced off the skewer to fall on my plate.  Since all the meats were marinated I knew I would not need salt, but I added a little freshly ground black pepper.  The meat was a good, flavorful chew and the slice was about 1/8 inch thick.  Next was Loin of Lamb, which had a powerful aroma.  Being perfectly spiced, the lamb required nothing, had nice full flavors, and went well with the cabernet fruit and spice in the Cabernet Sauvignon wine.  Next was a slice off a Steak of Squid.  It must have been a very big squid, not what you would find in fried calamari.  This was, on average, ½ inch thick, so I can only imagine the diameter of the whole fish.  I liked the texture and the flavors resulting from the marinade and the grilling process.  It was quite tender too.  Delighting my olfactory system upon their approach to the table were the Bacon Beef Rolls.  I took 2.  It was bacon wrapped around a tender chunk of beef that looked like it came from a roast.  It was bacon; it was heaven!  Following in the beef tradition were 2 chunks of Tenderloin with Onion and Yellow Pepper.  Well salted in the marinade, I added some freshly ground black pepper and first tasted the beef alone, then with the onion, then the yellow pepper, and both at the same time.  All was good on the beef front.  Charging down the protein path, the Pork Ribs came next.  I loved the marinade, which left the meat tender and loaded with big flavors.  I’ll have another glass of wine, thank you!  What could be better than to follow the Pork Ribs with Pork Sausage?  Again there were big flavors and the ground meat was spicy with a smooth texture in the mouth, totally devoid of gristle, which is often (to my chagrin) found in sausage.  Very nice!  Then we went back to the ranch with Beef Brisket, which was very tender and nicely flavored.  Arriving with an incredible aroma came the next skewer of Chicken Wings.  The taste was full-bodied, yet not spicy and was happily accompanied by the medium bodied red wine.  Following in the poultry line were the Chicken Hearts, for which Ken recommended a little salt.  Not much of an organ guy, I found the hearts to have the full bodied flavors associated with organ meat, which many people enjoy, but I would prefer Chicken Livers if I had my way.  Next was the Sirloin Steak, requiring no additional seasoning.  It was perfect and cooked to a nice medium temperature.  The meat was medium tender in texture, and again, the marinade made it special.  Next came Pork Neck marinated only in olive oil, which resulted in very mild but good flavors from the grill.  Beef Tenderloin with Parmesan Cheese followed this.  How good is that?  I was overwhelmed by this delightful combination of flavor blasts and smells; it was simply awesome.  Chef BETO brought the Bacon Wrapped Chicken Breast to finish off my meat extravaganza.  The bacon was thinner and less powerfully flavored than that used with the beef, which was well matched to the lighter taste of the chicken breast.  But WAIT!  Chef brought one more Bacon Wrapped Beef Tenderloin so I could compare the two side by side.  The Bacon Wrapped Chicken Breast was a perfect pairing, but the crowning glory was a repeat performance of the Bacon Wrapped Beef Tenderloin with bigger flavors, but equally well matched.  Which is better?  Both being fabulous, I could not decide.  Finally, Zico brought a skewer of Grilled Pineapple and cut off a couple of thick slices.  Still hot, I detected a little cinnamon in the marinade on the pineapple.  So sweet and hot and wonderful, I decided that this would be my dessert.  With a marinade of cinnamon powder, syrup of sugar water, cinnamon sticks, and cloves mixed up and brushed on the pineapple over the grill, it is the best way to eat pineapple, hot and sweet!  Skipping the dessert buffet, I was done.  It was a memorable evening of great flavors and aromas from the open kitchen and friendly service beginning with Iceman and Peggy, who watched over me throughout the evening.  I could not have been better accompanied than by them.  The atmosphere was festive with lively Brazilian music; lots of people talking and having fun while enjoying the “brought to the table” service.  This is a perfect way to spend an evening with friends and family while fulfilling your meat cravings with this “all you can eat” format.  Very well done and thanks to all.  I am coming back for more, and sooner than you think!

CHEERS to the Charuscarria!

My Best as Always,

Randy