Rio Hotel Onlines Review
The food at Kotobuki is good, very good even, but it's not really better than a number of other Japanese restaurants around Rio. What is outstanding is what you're watching while you eat. Kotobuki offers a sweeping view of Botafogo Beach and Botafogo Bay with the pretty boats at anchor in the marina, and, backstopping it all, the soaring Pão de Açúcar. Located in the seventh-floor food court of the Botafogo Praia Shopping (I know, but food-court food is different in Brazil), Kotobuki offers lunchtime specials including the prato executivo: 15 pieces of sushi and sashimi with a miso soup (called misoshuri in Brazil), or beef stir-fry with rice and miso and a sunomuno salad for R$20 (US$8.40). The teppanyaki for two is skillfully prepared at your table, as the chef cooks up thin slices of beef, tofu, and vegetables. A favorite lunch special, particularly on the weekends, is the all-you-can-eat Japanese buffet. It offers a variety of sushi, sashimi, appetizers, tempura, and yakisoba for R$35 (US$15) on Sunday to Thursday and R$42 (US$18) from Friday to Sunday and holidays.