This Amazonian juice and snack joint opposite Flamengo beach has a stream of devoted regulars, with whom you'll have to jostle with for elbow space at the counter. Options are limited but immensely flavourful. The eponymous tacacá (R$17, around £4.50) is a tangy soup with shrimp and an odd green leaf that numbs the diner's mouth slightly. Locals love it and foreigners often find it disconcerting. The unha de caranguejo, shredded crab meat (£1) with a peppery yellow sauce, is popular. Sweet-toothed regulars come for a bowl of the velvety purple açaí juice (£4), an Amazonian berry usually served overly sugared but offered pure or with guaraná syrup here. A variety of fruit-flavoured ice-creams (£2.50), such as carimbó, the exotic Amazonian fruit cupuaçú (its flavour is like a tart melon) mixed with Brazil nut, are a hit in the summer.
Rua Barão do Flamengo 35, +55 21 2205 7545
Many of Rio's restaurants will be cashing in during the World Cup, but away from the main tourist areas you can find great food and loads of local character at affordable prices