5 great places to eat stroganoff in Curitiba

Like many traditional dishes, the origin of stroganoff has several versions. The most likely is that it was created in the 19th century by a French cook named Charles Briere who worked for a noble and very rich family from Saint Petersburg, the Stroganovs.

The cook would have combined the classic French preparation of meat — browning and flambéing the meat, adding mustard sauce — with a classic Russian ingredient, smetana, a type of sour cream. This would be the original version. It was served over mashed potatoes and accompanied by cabbage salad, pickles, cherry tomatoes and fresh herbs, such as parsley and fennel.

The flight of Russian nobility after the 1917 Soviet revolution took stroganoff to other European countries, especially France. In Paris, the dish won over champignons. It was only after World War II, however, that stroganoff became popular. Russian soldiers carried meat cut into strips in large barrels mixed with coarse salt and brandy, and, when preparing, the meat was fried with onion and smetana.

Arriving in the United States, the dish received the peculiar addition of ketchup and the mashed potatoes were replaced with potatoes cut into sticks and fried.

In Brazil, the dish arrived in the 1950s, and became extremely popular in the 1960s and 1970s. Here, sour cream was replaced by another, much more accessible dairy product: heavy cream. In the 1980s, straw potatoes appeared, completing the dish as we know it today.

Below, you can find 5 places in Curitiba to taste great versions of this famous dish.

Ile de France Restaurant

The flagship of the city’s iconic French restaurant, Ile de France’s stroganoff is often cited as “the best” in Curitiba. Better or not, it is, in fact, delicious. With a full-bodied, very creamy, complex sauce, spicy to the customer’s taste, it features the mignon in very soft strips, accompanied by white rice, straw potatoes and traditional potato dumplings.

The stroganoff is very well served, and arrives on platters, which are on an accessory table. Each customer’s dish is prepared on the spot by the waiter.

A dish for one person costs R$144.

• Where: Av. do Batel, 1550 – space 4 – Batel, Curitiba – PR
• Opening hours: Open from Tuesday to Sunday from 12pm to 4pm and from Monday to Saturday from 7pm to 10:30pm. Reservations and delivery via WhatsApp.
• Contact: (41) 3223-9962

Pacha Restaurant

Chef Zico Garcez brings a very substantial version of the dish, for those days when we allow ourselves to go off our diet. Rich, creamy, dairy and very well seasoned sauce. The strip mignon is tender and filling. Served with white rice and straw potatoes, which are very thin and crunchy. The individual portion easily serves two people.

The individual portion costs R$88, the portion for two people costs R$160.

• Where: R. Cláudio Manoel da Costa, 548 – Pilarzinho, Curitiba – PR
• Opening hours: Open Tuesday to Friday from 6:30 pm to 10 pm and Saturday and Sunday from 12 pm to 3:30 pm. Reservations and delivery via WhatsApp.
• Contact: (41) 3044-4480

Festival Curitiba

The most famous supermarket in the capital of Paraná also offers, in the form of lunch boxes or as a lunch buffet, a beautiful stroganoff, which would put many traditional restaurants to shame.

Prepared with rump, it comes in thin, soft strips. The sauce is creamy, with that characteristic flavor of Brazilian stroganoff. Each portion has approximately 500g of stroganoff, easily serving 3 people.

A kilo of stroganoff costs R$ 89.90.

See store addresses and opening hours here.

Tartine

The Tartine version is a little sweeter, with a consistent sauce, prepared with mignon. Served with crispy white rice and thin homemade straw potatoes.

You can try the stroganoff at the buffet or delivery. The full buffer costs R$94 per person from Tuesday to Friday and R$104 on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays.

For delivery, the dish costs R$84 with an individual portion of approximately 325g of meat.

• Where: R. Cel. Dulcídio, 35 – Batel, Curitiba – PR
• Opening hours: Open Tuesday to Friday from 11:30 am to 3:00 pm and Saturday and Sunday from 11:30 am to 3:30 pm. Delivery by Ifood and Rappi from Tuesday to Sunday from 11am to 3pm.
• Contact: (41) 3222-4937

Bourbon Bistrot

The beautiful French bistro, headed by Eduardo Richard, is located in the Hotel Bourbon, in the city center. Here, the stroganoff, also prepared with filet mignon, gets a more powerful version, with plenty of meat broth, Worcestershire sauce and spices, and a lighter one, as it uses less cream.

It arrives at the table covered in a tile of straw potatoes, which must be broken and eaten with the stroganoff, and with the rice, which comes in a separate pan.

An individual dish costs R$80.

• Where: R. Cândido Lopes, 102 – Centro, Curitiba – PR
• Opening hours: Open Monday to Sunday from 7pm to 11pm. Reservations here.
• Contact: (41) 3221-4600

*The texts published by Insiders do not necessarily reflect the opinion of CNN Viagem & Gastronomia.

About Caroline Grimm

Curitiba native, doctor by training and gastronome at heart, Caroline Grimm is also a content creator and accumulates thousands of followers on social media . As she describes it, she lives to cook, eat, drink and travel – not necessarily in that order, but always in search of the best experiences.