In a city where the temperature never drops below 80 degrees, ice cream is a way of life. Locals and tourists head down to Cidade Baixa, the low-lying area along the water, just to taste the cones at Sorveteria da Ribeira. The shop produces artisanal flavors that go beyond the conventional palate, such as burnt coconut, corn, banana, and tamarind, and they include Brazilian fruits such as umbu, cupuaçu, and soursop.

Right behind the iconic Bonfim Church, this seafood-focused restaurant sports one of the most beautiful views of Todos os Santos Bay. Chef Deliene Mota offers her take on surf and turf: mashed cassava topped with cheese curd gratin, layered with shrimp cooked in cream on one side and sun-dried beef cooked in clarified butter and onions on the other. If you’re looking for a lighter meal, try the shrimp in tapioca batter or the broiled seafood platter (with lobster, octopus, squid, shrimp, and more). Mota’s plantain stew is great for vegetarians. In 2022, the team opened a new branch in the Pedra Furada area, not far from the original venue.

Chef Beto Pimentel earned a reputation three decades ago as a trailblazer taking cozinha Baiana to a higher gastronomic level, winning Paraíso Tropical fame and awards along the way. Today he continues to merge local seafood with Brazilian fruits and native herbs, many grown in his own garden, and his skills are evident in signature dishes such as dandá de camarão (a yucca stew with shrimp, Brazil nuts, and coconut milk) and rice with peguari (fighting conch) with herbs, coconut slices, licuri palm, and Brazilian cherry.

Update: February 27, 2024: Paraíso Tropical is temporarily closed for renovations.

Head to Cadê Q’Chama for hearty regional dishes: vatapá (a stew made of spicy prawn paste mixed with dendê oil, peanuts, and coconut milk), moqueca, and caldo de sururu (fresh yet rich shellfish soup). The casual restaurant also serves a four-course tasting menu that changes weekly, so guests can try dishes like sarapatel (stew with pork meat and offal), stewed beef tongue, and rabada (oxtail with watercress).

Contemporary Brazilian, Latin, Mediterranean — there’s a little bit of everything on 705’s menu, which ranges from ceviche to risotto. Chef Raony Menezes masterfully balances flavors in dishes such as seafood rice with shrimp, squid, lucine clams, and octopus, as well as a sharable moqueca with coconut rice and dendê farofa (manioc flour toasted in dendê oil). Be sure to start with the mini abará, mashed black-eyed peas steamed in a banana leaf, served with vinaigrette and spicy sauce.

Nara Amaral opened Di Janela to serve her close friends, but word got around and the casual restaurant became an immediate hit. Located close to the famous Pelourinho, on a cobbled street surrounded by aging homes, the restaurant serves well-crafted snacks like arancini Baiano (rice fritters stuffed with shrimp and fried in palm oil) and hearty dishes like Amaral’s indispensable octopus rice. Sidewalk tables are always busy, so get there early.

One of the most awarded restaurants in Salvador, Amado is an institution. Chef and owner Edinho Engel presents wildly original creations, like his signature grilled fish with cashew nut farofa, caruru (onion- and ginger-laced okra), and wild rice, or the duck magret with creamy polenta, asparagus, and passionfruit roti. The restaurant is airy and elegant, and the view of the Atlantic is stunning.

This century-old bar in the city center was set to close in 2017, until customers decided to take over the place. The new owners restored the hardwood ceiling and tile floor, while maintaining the menu of traditional dishes. Try the fumeiro (house-made smoked pork) with banana puree, the cheese curd served with green bean vinaigrette, and the pirão de leite (creamy milk and cassava porridge). Weekends bring live music and local crowds.

As the night falls, the outdoor tables at this lively bar in the Rio Vermelho neighborhood become crowded with talkative guests, bottles of cold beer, and tasty petiscos (snacks). Order up some jerked beef with squash puree or cod fritters, which come to the table in portions, making them easier to share. Bar do Jonas is also a great place to try Bahia’s take on roskas, fruity vodka-based caipirinhas; try the tangerine or pineapple flavors.

In this original, cozy restaurant with a backyard surrounded by fruit trees, chef Kaywa Wilton (son of a Bahian father and a French mother) showcases the versatility of ingredients from the sea. His modern inventions based on his travels around the world include crab hot dogs, a tuna belly smash burger, and fish tiradito made with the catch of the day. The lunch menu changes weekly to highlight the freshest ingredients from local fisherman and producers. 

Note: Boia is currently closed while moving to a larger space. The team plans to reopen by late February 2024.

After spending eight years running the original Jiló in the calm coastal city of Itacaré in Bahia, chef Ícaro Rosa and his wife, Elen Luz, expanded to Salvador with a branch in the Pituba neighborhood. Rosa joins the latest generation of Black chefs reinventing the city’s food scene. The dishes on the menu are contemporary, although they also evoke memories of the chef’s childhood; you may find shrimp tempura with vatapá, seafood carbonara made with octopus and grilled shrimp, and moqueca risotto with fish.

At sophisticated La Bottega, Brazilian ingredients star in well-crafted cocktails such as the Feroce (cachaça, mixed citrus, and cilantro-basil syrup) and the Maní Garnish (gin, thyme, cashew shrub, and lemon). Snacks lean Italian: beef tartare with herb aioli, baked burrata, or bruschettas. The wine list, focused on Italian labels, is one of the best in town.

Tucked in the Villa San Luigi food hall in the Pituba neighborhood, Pepo contends for the title of best Italian restaurant in Salvador. House-made pastas like casarecce, rigatoni, and fettuccine are the highlights of the menu created by chef Peu Mesquita. Start with the savory cannoli filled with tuna tartare and mascarpone, or the grilled shrimp with baked tomatoes and cheese foam before ordering more substantial dishes, such as the 12-hour baked beef rib accompanied by gnocchi covered with fonduta.

This dive bar in Pituba is a bit of a local secret. Don’t expect exceptional cocktails, but the beer is always very cold — or “stupidly cold,” as Brazilians say — and the service is always kind and friendly. On the menu, the food is simple but very enjoyable; go for fish stew or the always-fresh crab salad.

Salvador’s average temperature hovers around 82 degrees; beat the heat with a jar of sangria at this little slice of Spain, located on a corner in the Rio Vermelho neighborhood, while nibbling on some pintxos and tapas. Spanish chef Jose Morchon works with local chef Juli Holler to serve snacks with a Mediterranean accent: beef with duck mousse and green grapes, quail egg with chorizo and jamón, and other creative combinations served on slices of bread. Various tortillas (chorizo and bell pepper, or shrimp and leeks) fill out the menu, which also includes seafood dishes and paellas.

After spending many years working in some of the city’s other restaurants, such as Carvão, chef Ricardo Silva opened his first solo venture in a space facing Rio Vermelho beach. Among the creative preparations of meat and seafood, you’ll find his popular grilled octopus with focaccia, as well as pasta and many types of brothy rice made with items like mussels or duck. The outdoor tables with a view of the ocean are the most popular.

At this homey restaurant in the Rio Vermelho neighborhood, chef Leila Carreiro serves what she calls “heritage cuisine.” For a decade she has focused on regional dishes, including those typically served as street food in the markets of Bahia and the recipes that locals cherish most, many of them paying homage to African origins. You’ll find peguari (fighting conch), a summertime classic here served with cashew vinaigrette, as well as hauçá rice (coconut and beef rice fried in palm oil with dried shrimp).

Don’t leave Salvador without tasting acarajés, the city’s famous street food. Wads of crushed black-eyed peas are deep-fried in dendê palm oil until golden, then split in half and stuffed with flavorful, spicy pastes of dried shrimp, onions, and cilantro. The acarajés come in a variety of spice levels, but be cautious with your first order. In Bahia, “hot” means really hot.

Energetic chef Tereza Paim was one of the first to show the world Bahian cuisine could shine in a restaurant setting, not just a family home kitchen. Casa de Tereza in Rio Vermelho serves as a charming temple to the region’s food, with various ecstatically decorated dining rooms named in honor of Bahian cultural symbols, such as the deities of Candomblé. Start with snacks like mix Baiano (a mixture of the chef’s best bites, such as shrimp and feijoada fritters). Definitely don’t miss the moqueca; Paim is known as the local moqueca queen.