4 Best Restaurants in Lençois, Salvador and the Bahia Coast

Regular live music and excellent cocktails make this a popular hangout with visitors and locals come nightfall. During the day it's a hot spot for caffeine aficionados, with a range of organic locally produced coffees complementing delicious homemade cakes and a simple menu of salads, sandwiches, and pasta dishes.

You’ll be forgiven for wanting to order everything on the menu at Brazilian chef Deborah Doitschinoff’s Slow Food spot set right on the river, where passionate staff talk diners through the rare local ingredients (such as batata da serra) that inspire the menu. Highlights include cacao spaghetti with shrimp, cashew-filled eggplant rolls, and cinnamon and tamarind caipirinhas. And while the flavors could be more inventive for the price, the experience itself—dining alfresco overlooking Lencois’s rushing waterway with excellent service—makes for one of the most pleasant meals in town.

Arguably the best-value dining experience in town, this hole-in-the-wall spot is a local favorite for its tasty thin-crust wood-oven pizzas and ice-cold beer, which can be ordered to take away or enjoyed at one of the metal tables set out in the street. Still hungry? Stop off next door for a sugar high at Pavê e Comê, a dessert-only café run by charismatic granny Sonia, who specializes in classic Brazilian treats such as pavê de chocolate com caldo quente e sorvete de maracujá (chocolate cake with hot sauce and passion-fruit ice cream).

This excellent-value per-kilo restaurant offers a great pit stop at lunch or dinner for meat lovers and vegetarians alike, with an extensive salad buffet accompanying a wide selection of slow-roasted meats and vegetable dishes cooked in clay pots.