Chef Rafa Costa e Silva brings a traditional Basque sidrería-style feast to Casa Marambaia in Petrópolis on May 16, featuring 40-day aged txuleta and salt cod.
If you’ve ever been to San Sebastián during cider season, you know what a sagardotegi feels like — long communal tables, abundant dishes placed in the center, the smell of charcoal and aged beef, and a sense that nobody is in a hurry. That experience, hard to find outside the Basque Country, is what two-Michelin-star chef Rafa Costa e Silva is bringing to the mountains above Rio de Janeiro.
On May 16, starting at 1 PM, the Assador Basco takes over Casa Marambaia, a historic boutique hotel nestled in the Corrêas district of Petrópolis. The event blends local Brazilian ingredients with the deeply rooted culinary traditions of the Basque sidrería, the rustic cider-house restaurants that define one of Spain’s most beloved regional food cultures.
Family-style, no rush, no ceremony
The format is the whole point. Everything arrives at the center of the table and guests serve themselves freely, at their own pace. It’s the kind of meal that stretches naturally, fueled by conversation and refills rather than a waiter’s timing.
Starters include homemade sausage cooked in cachaça, a skillet of mixed mushrooms with garlic and parsley, grilled bread with tomato, cured ham, goat cheese cream, and naturally fermented baguette. The Brazilian touch — cachaça, local mushrooms — is woven in without calling attention to itself.
The mains are where the Basque soul comes through most clearly. Salt cod loin confit in olive oil arrives with charcoal-caramelized onions, a nod to one of the great classic preparations of San Sebastián’s restaurant culture. Alongside it: wood-fired Calabrian-style potatoes with herbs, roasted red peppers with toasted garlic, green salad with pickled onions, and tomato salad with anchovies.
The txuleta — a bone-in ribeye from older cattle, dry-aged for 40 days and finished over live fire with fleur de sel — is the kind of cut that needs nothing else to make its case.
Dessert is the classic Basque cake — dense, golden, unmistakable. No reinvention needed. Its presence here feels like a respectful closing statement.
The setting matters
Casa Marambaia isn’t just a backdrop. The property occupies a historic mansion in Corrêas, one of Petrópolis’s most scenic districts, less than two hours from Rio. With only eight suites in the main house — plus villas and lofts spread across the grounds — the experience stays genuinely intimate regardless of the crowd.
The amenities go well beyond what a mountain boutique hotel typically offers: tennis, beach tennis, pickleball, a fitness center, cycling and hiking trails, a lake, waterfalls, and a spa with a heated pool, saunas, and chromotherapy shower. It’s the kind of place that rewards arriving the night before.
Known as the “Imperial City,” Petrópolis has long been Rio’s preferred escape — cooler air, lush scenery, a slower pace. For a long Sunday lunch rooted in one of the world’s great culinary traditions, there’s arguably no better stage within reach of the city.
Event Info
- Event: Assador Basco with Chef Rafa Costa e Silva
- Date: May 16, 2025
- Time: From 1:00 PM
- Venue: Casa Marambaia – R. Dr. Agostinho Goulão, 2.098 – Corrêas, Petrópolis – RJ
- Price: R$ 480 per person + 13% service charge
- Accommodation reservations: (24) 99965-2115
- Assador Basco reservations: (24) 99208-7009
- Website: www.casamarambaia.com.br
- Instagram: @casamarambaia
