About last night (*not suitable for vegetarians)

We have found over the last few days that Copacabana beach does a number of things well; refreshing green coconuts full of sweet milk, generous multicoloured caipirinhas, huge crashing waves of aquamarine and endless offers of ‘designer’ sunglasses for the princely sum of about £1.50 a pair. Last night however we discovered the beach’s premiere prize - fillet steak! In a restaurant of enormous white umbrellas, plastic chairs and tables and flat-screen TVs blaring the latest football scores strapped precariously to the umbrellas, we ordered the filé mignon (directly under the promisingly insurmountable ‘imperial bbq’ on the menu). After our friendly waiter had plied us with a couple of lime caipirinhas (although not half as much as he plied the woman next to us with vodka - presumably she was dosing up before her next badly fitting face-lift) he presented us with a plate of rice, a bigger plate of chips and about 3 cows worth of perfectly cooked and salted fillet steak. With our eyes wide with excitement and mouths watering, he then set light to a stainless steel gravy boat full of beef fat and garlic. Unfortunately he also set light to the saucer, the serving spoon and half his hand but his sacrifice was worth it. For us. Dear god - this meal couldn’t get any better and we hadn’t even taken a bite. Needless to say we were not disappointed! The beef melted, the chips crunched and there are no words in either the English or Portuguese languages to describe how the hot beef fat and garlic sauce made us feel! Another caipirinha later and we had finished. Fully sated. Over sated. Ready for a night of digestion that no amount of omeprazole could help. But it was worth it. Every mouth full. And our dear waiters burnt hand.