The Best Restaurant in Manaus, The Amazon

Background Illustration for Restaurants

If you expect to find much regional cuisine using local, exotic ingredients in Manaus, you may be disappointed. Belém has a much more vibrant and creative eating scene, although there are enough good restaurants to keep you interested over a few days. Here expect to find rather bland, brightly lit restaurants serving much fish caught in Amazonian rivers and served with the ubiquitous farofa, the ground manioc flour that is fried in oil and served crispy and dry as a side dish.

Banzeiro

$$$$ | Vieralves Fodor's choice

Run by the brothers Felipe and Thiago Schaedler, this restaurant specializes in top-notch regional Amazon cuisine. Fresh fish from the Amazon rivers reigns supreme here—you can't go wrong with the grilled tambaqui fish ribs served with tucupi farofa (palm heart fruit manioc flour). For dessert, try the banana cake drizzled with molasses. Popular with locals, the place fills up on weekends. Check the restaurant's website before going for English descriptions of their main dishes, as no menus in English are available in the restaurant, and most staff speak only Portuguese.