New-look Casa Brazilian Rodizio, Micklegate, York - review

That might be the question on your lips after a visit to the new-look Casa Brazilian Rodizio.

The popular restaurant that has made its home at 1 Micklegate (next to the Travelodge Central Micklegate) for seven years has just reopened after a revamp.

A new interior and new menus greet customers old and new.

Owner Eduardo Caetano celebrated the reopening with a flamboyant evening full of carnival colour and fun, complete with Brazilian dancers and samba music.

Casa Brazilian Rodizio entrance in Micklegate (Image: Maxine Gordon)

The Press was invited to sample the new-look menu. For fans of the original place, you'll be happy to note that all the favourites are still available, particularly the rodizio where waiters carve freshly cooked meats straight to your plate.

During our visit, we sampled the fillet steak, honey cooked pork, gammon, chicken and a choice of Brazilian sausage, with our table of happy reviewers giving each the thumbs up.

The stand out for me was the steak - cooked medium, so it was still red inside. It was seasoned perfectly and as soft as you could have wished for.

To accompany the meat selection, we all visited the enormous buffet bar which was a feast in itself. On show was everything from tomato, cucumber and leaves, to beetroot, olives, creamy mushrooms, stuffed peppers as well as prawns in their shells, and platters of cheese and deli meats as well as frittata.

Meats carved straight to your plate (Image: Maxine Gordon)

There is a hot selection too with black bean stew, potatoes, cauliflower cheese, and chicken.

On our visit, platters of wild seabass fillets cooked in olive oil and lemon as well as dishes of freshly-cooked seafood were available too.

Vegetarians have not been forgotten; besides the hot and cold buffet bar, menu items include mixed vegetable risotto, aubergine Milanese and fish of the day.

A fish menu is just one of the new offerings at Casa since it reopened last week.

Eduardo said: "A lot of pescatarians come and we thought it would be great if we could offer a menu of fish.

"We have a new chef from Sardinia, Franco Putzdu, who specialises in fish."

The four-course fish menu features a mix of fried fish, seafood salad, mussels with tomato sauce and the aforementioned wild seabass.

Diners can also choose from a selection of steaks too - everything from T-bone and tomahawk to cote de boeuf - which Eduardo said were designed for sharing.

All orders come with unlimited access to the hot and cold buffet/salad bar.

Drinks wise, all the usual suspects are available, from wine and beer through to spirits and cocktails.

New for autumn is the house cocktail, the Casa Spritz, a not-to-be missed combo of gin, passionfruit, mint and Guaraná, a Brazilian soft drink. It was so delicious we had to order a second!

The churros - our favourite dessert (Image: Maxine Gordon)

Pace yourself - if you can - to make room for dessert. Our table tried the Brazilian chocolate cake and the tiramisu, but the chocolate filled churros, served with chocolate sauce and vanilla ice-cream, were our favourite.

Prices vary depending on the time and date of visit and range from £18.95 for lunch on Friday and Saturday to £32.95 for dinner from Tuesday to Saturday. All diners are charged £24.95 all day Sunday with an early-bird offer of £26.95 from 4pm to 6pm Tuesday to Thursday.

Steak prices are separate, and range from £50 to £75 (designed for sharing).

Children up to five eat free, with reduced prices for under 13s.

For more, visit: casarodizio.co.uk