4 Best Restaurants in The Amazon, Brazil

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.

Twelve waiters, each with a different cut of beef, chicken, or goat, scurry around this large, sparkling clean restaurant. As if the delectable meats weren't enough, tables are also stocked with side dishes, including manioc root, pickled vegetables, and caramelized bananas. You can eat as much as you like for a fixed price of R$90 per person.

Regional cuisine, prepared to exacting specifications, has earned Lá em Casa its stellar reputation and made it a favorite of the locals. Consider trying Belém's premier dish, pato no tucupi (duck in a yellow manioc–herb sauce served with the mildly intoxicating jambu leaf). Crabs on the half-shell covered with farofa (finely ground manioc fried in margarine) is another good choice, as is açaí sorbet for dessert. Sitting on the patio overlooking the river and fringed by tropical vines and bromeliads, you feel as if you're dining in the middle of the forest.