Samba Eatery Toronto

Samba Brazil Eatery

Samba is a style of dance instantly identifiable with Brazil, and this eatery is named after it, serving Brazilian street food.

Their main specialty is a wide range of pastels, rectangular deep-fried thin crust filled pies, though they also do a range of sandwiches as well as burgers.

Samba Eatery Toronto

Mismatched chairs are cluttered around large group tables in the space seating roughly twenty, which is somewhat stifling but clearly bursting with Brazilian pride and bound by community interaction. Photographs of various iconic Brazilian images decorate the walls.

Samba Eatery Toronto

I’d most recommend a Carne Seca variety ($7.25) stuffed with a special kind of Brazilian dried beef that’s been cooked so it’s rehydrated, but still has a nice chew and cured flavour, along with creamy cassava fries and sauteed onions. 

The crust is greasy, bubbly, elastic and crispy all at the same time, and comes out piping hot. 

A Pizza variety ($6.45) is actually also quite traditional, stuffed with tomato sauce, oregano and lots of very stretchy mozzarella.

Samba Eatery Toronto

Most traditional of all, perhaps obviously, is the Especial Tradicional ($9.75), not to mention the largest. It’s stuffed with beef ground fresh in house, hard-boiled eggs and sliced green olives that add a hint of bitterness and crunch to the hearty combination.

Samba Eatery Toronto

Carne Louca ($8) translates roughly to “Crazy Beef,” one of a list of sandwiches on the menu. Beef that’s slow-cooked in house for several hours is stuffed into a toasted crusty Portuguese bun with onions, peppers and lots of melty mozzarella cheese for a sammy that’s basic but filling.

Samba Eatery Toronto

The sleeper hit of this place is a house hot sauce that goes amazingly with everything, a vivid orange opaque concoction that’s relatively mild and creamy but still has a creeping heat.

The other ubiquitous addition for this kind of food is a vinaggrete rustico of tomato, green onion, parsley and bell pepper.

Samba Eatery Toronto

The Romeo e Julieta ($6.25) comes from a smaller selection of sweet pastels, the name apparently instantly recognizable in Brazil. It’s stuffed with an iconic sweet and salty Latin American combination of guava paste and fresh cheese.

Samba Eatery Toronto

There’s also a Banana Dolce de Leite kind ($5.75) with a slightly more accessible combination of sliced banana and piping hot, messy dulce de leche inside.

Samba Eatery Toronto

House brigadeiros ($2) are rich chocolate through and through, each bite extremely indulgent, coated in chocolate sprinkles.

Samba Eatery Toronto

Wash everything down with a refreshing guarana drink ($2.50) that’s made from a fruit from the rainforest and typical in Brazil, with a slight bitter edge and berry flavour but mostly sugary.

Samba Eatery Toronto

Beef is also ground in house for burgers, which can be made into combos with chips and pop.

Samba Eatery Toronto

Photos by

Hector Vasquez


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