Buffet 550 is not easy to stumble upon because it's on the third floor of one of Rio's many shopping galleries, the precursors of shopping malls. I don't know if I would have found it if guest Rio reporter Débora Birn hadn't taken me there.
You can trust the locals who take the escalators to the third floor of the gallery at Rua Visconde de Pirajá 550, in Ipanema and fill up the small restaurant at lunch time.
They're not executives, but students and office workers - a good sign that a budget meal is ahead.
As soon as you get to Brazil, you'll discover kilo restaurants, in which you help yourself from a buffet and weigh your choices. Kilo restaurants in Rio's hip South Zone - Zona Sul, including Copacabana, Leme, Ipanema and Leblon, are a little more expensive than elsewhere in Rio.
Clean and simple, Buffet 550 serves southeast Brazil lunch staples: rice, beans, several kinds of vegetables, beef, chicken, fish. The kilo costs R$ 24,90 - cheaper than the usual R$30 and up in the neighborhood.
On our visit, I got rice, beans, fried fish, zucchini, stewed carrots, and potatoes. My tasty meal cost R$ 9,46 (about $ 5.50).
The restaurant also does catering.
The restaurant has some tables outside the door, in the gallery, by a nice-looking water wall. Tables are grouped by twos, so you may need to share space with someone you don't know, like in a school cafeteria. It's all right, though. You'll see that more expensive places in Rio can also be a little cramped.
Rua Visconde de Pirajá 550 - #320 (near the corner with Rua Aníbal de Mendonça; see map of Ipanema)
Rio de Janeiro - RJ
Phone: 21-2511-0226
