That's Bananas brings Brazilian street food to Ottawa

Patrícia and Beatriz came to Canada from Itu, a small city in São Paulo state, and they've brought a piece of home to Baseline Road. At That's Bananas, their new Brazilian café, the menu bridges two worlds: fried snacks sold at markets and bars in Brazil, and decadent cakes a grandmother might bake on Sunday.

The dough for their pasteis is rolled paper-thin and flash-fried so the shell shatters at first bite, almost like a delicate toaster pastry. Fillings are soft and rich by contrast — creamy shredded chicken or warm banana folded into dulce de leche sauce, among other savoury and sweet options. "It's something we remember from home," says Patrícia. The pastry is part of growing up in Brazil, she said, well worth the extra effort to remake any that crack before serving.

Pasteis are an immigrant's invention: adapted by Chinese arrivals in São Paulo in the mid-twentieth century who reworked their spring rolls with Brazilian ingredients. A food born of one community remaking home in a new country is now in the hands of two sisters doing the same in Ottawa.

Fast-timers often expect the heat of Mexican cooking, but Brazilian food is milder — peppers and hot sauce are served on the side. Among the draws are pão de queijo, the chewy cheese bread that is the café's best-selling snack, and the coxinha, a teardrop-shaped chicken croquette whose name means "little thigh." The shredded filling is bound in potato dough and crisped in panko. The daily lunch board changes through the week, drawing from their grandmothers' recipe book: meatloaf, lasagna, sweet rice, and braised pulled pork piled on bread.

Beatriz trained as a pastry cook before opening this spot; she spent her first years in Canada selling Brazilian sweets from rented kitchens and farmers-market stalls. Now they have a storefront. The food is honest and the portions are generous — exactly what you'd find at a market stall in São Paulo at 6 a.m., washed down with fresh sugar-cane juice.