Cafés in Centro & Lapa

Confeitaria Colombo and Casa Cavé

Confeitaria Colombo, at Rua Gonçalves Dias, 32, was founded in 1894 by the Portuguese immigrants Joaquim Borges de Meireles and Manuel José Lebrão.⁴ The Antwerp mirrors in their carved jacarandá (rosewood) frames date from the 1912–1918 refit, when Antônio Borsoi carved the furniture; a tearoom went in upstairs in 1922, and an opening in the ground-floor ceiling shows its stained-glass skylight.⁵ It opens Monday to Friday 09:00–19:30 and Saturday 09:00–17:30, and a second Colombo is on Rua Primeiro de Março, 66.

Casa Cavé is a short walk away, at Rua Sete de Setembro, 133, on the corner of Rua Uruguaiana. It left that building in 2000, partly because the listed premises would not allow a bigger kitchen, and moved back in 2015; fans of Portuguese doçaria (confectionery) still make a point of it.⁶ It opens Monday to Friday 08:00–18:00 and Saturday 09:00–14:00.

Travessa do Ouvidor, Rua da Quitanda and Rua da Assembléia

The espresso bars are tucked into the office streets. On Travessa do Ouvidor, Move Coffee at number 37 is air-conditioned and opens Monday to Friday 09:00–17:00, and Panna Café is at number 17. Rua da Quitanda has Rubro Café, with Wi-Fi, at 191 A, Grão Mestre Café in the basement of 191 and the Coffee five kiosk at 86. DarkCoffee is on Rua São Bento, 29, and Fazenda Paradiso Café on Rua dos Inválidos, 126, opens weekdays at 08:00.

Curto Café now sits on the ground floor of the Edifício Cândido Mendes, Rua da Assembléia, 10, open weekdays 10:00–17:00. When Sprudge visited in 2016 it was a kiosk on Avenida Erasmo Braga, serving only espresso and cappuccino from beans that came weekly from Espírito Santo, with its costs chalked on a board and the price left to the customer.⁷ Cereja Café shares the address, and Beirute Café is at number 45a.

Praça XV and Praça Mauá

On Praça XV, Bistrô do Paço, at number 48, is one of the few Centro cafés open at weekends: 11:30–19:30 on weekdays and 12:00–19:00 on Saturday and Sunday. The Paço itself has been a cultural center since 1984, after a 1980 restoration returned it to roughly its 1818 appearance.¹

Praça Mauá reopened on 6 September 2015 after about four years of works under Porto Maravilha, the port renewal plan that included blowing up the elevated Perimetral highway over the square in 2014.⁸ The Museu de Arte do Rio, opened on 1 March 2013, links an eclectic palacete with a former bus station by a suspended walkway, and Café do MAR is at Praça Mauá, 5.⁹

Santiago Calatrava’s Museu do Amanhã stands on the pier next door, and the VLT light rail stops in front of the museum at Parada dos Museus.⁸

Lapa and the Arcos

The Arcos da Lapa were built in 1750 as the Carioca Aqueduct, carrying spring water to a fountain in Largo da Carioca, and since 1896 they have carried the Santa Teresa tram.³

Lapa’s cafés work daytime hours. Café com Afeto, a bakery café at Rua da Lapa, 161, opens Tuesday to Friday 10:00–19:00 and weekends 10:00–17:00, and Syn Café is at number 24. Café Cultural Sacrilégio is on Avenida Mem de Sá, 81, BRAVA Doceria e Café on Rua Conde de Lages, 44, and Tabikofi, for cafés especiais (specialty coffee), at Rua Orestes, 28, in the Fábrica Bhering.