Farol Churrasqueira

[Pastryrocks]

Recently we found a Churrasqueira in Mississauga at 3635 Cawthra Rd, unit 9 [phone]. The place is called Farol Churrasqueira and their chicken is rather good, the sauce is different than the regular sauce you find, and imho this sauce is better.

The chicken is split in half and then placed vertically into a cage and cooked over gas. The result is a chicken that is not fatty at all and also has some lovely slightly charred skin. It would appear that they have two ovens like this, which cook about 6-8 chickens at a time. I’m unsure how long it takes to cook a chicken this way, but it is faster than cooking an uncut chicken. Due to the gas flame the chicken has more flavour imo than your regular rotisserie style where the chickens are place on a bar and then turned with the heat from the bottom and sides cooking the chicken. In this way there seems to be more contact with the flame, and hence some extra flavour from the charred skin. Now I’m unsure if they prepare the chicken other than cutting it in half before it is placed into the special oven, i.e. salt & pepper, brine etc…

The sauce is a little different than your regular Piri-Piri sauce. First it is made with olive oil not your cheap vegetable oil (usually genetically modified). The reason I know this is because they use bottle olive oil and also I purchased some Piri-Piri sauce and place it in the fridge. The next day or so the Piri-Piri sauce become quite thick, not a solid but very thick, your cheap vegetable oil can not thicken up in the fridge. Also, I’m unsure what kind of hot pepper is used in the Piri-Piri sauce, but it is found on the bottom of the jar that I purchased along with garlic, salt, pepper, etc…

The roast potatoes are your typical Portuguese style Parisian potatoes, and like most places are lacking some seasoning. A little olive oil and salt & pepper and all is good.

They also have your typical Portuguese Churrasqueira fair such as mixed vegetables, fish, beef, cod-fish, etc… We just stick with the basics, chicken and potatoes.

This is a take-out place and as such has no washroom. It does have one little table with two chairs. You could not eat there at dinner time because the lineup is out the door for food. I’ve been twice and this is now my place of choice for Portuguese chicken.

[mrbozo]

Second Farol for both the chicken and the sauce. 10$ for a whole split and grilled bird. The guy behind the counter when I've been has been pleasant.

[Pastryrocks]

Unsure why I thought the chicken was cooked over gas, but it is not. It is cooked by electricity! Despite this, 99% Churrasqueira is cook by electricity, the chicken and sauce combo is still the best around imho.

[duckdown]

I know for sure Bom Apetite grilled variety is done on an open grill and also Brasas in Mississauga is cooked in a charcoal pit...other than that, most places use those generic electric rotisserie machines

[Pastryrocks]

Duck this is a strange oven; I’ve never seen one like it before. There are four or five thin doors, and inside are one or two cages that hold two whole split chickens. The chickens do not move, I watched as a fellow pulled the cages out, which sit on a thick round metal bar, they where pulled out the oven so he could turn the chickens over. From my angle I could see a red hot element standing upright between the chickens, which are cooking. I believe it is not unlike broiling using the top element of your oven. Hence the little charred bits of skin on the chickens. Also, you just don’t have to leave the oven door ajar to keep the top element from cooling down.

There seems to be quite a bit of fat and chicken cooking juices on the floor in front of the ovens. There is newspaper on the floor to help absorb the juices and fat. Everything is vertical not horizontal, so the fat and juices do not drip down on the chicken below. Now I do see the flavour benefit of the juices and fat dripping down to the chicken below.

This oven does cook the chicken at a higher temp that your regular rotisserie. And as such, the skin does have some charred parts; less fat because there is are no birds above dripping fat down onto the birds below. Also, I believe with the shorter cooking time for this type of bird (fryers) responds better to the quicker cooking time than the little longer cooking time with your regular rotisserie. I believe that this type of oven is far better than your regular rotisserie oven that so many other Churrasqueira use.

I much prefer Brasas cooking method. However eating a few birds from Brasas I’m not keen on their style of sauce. For us, the faster cooking time and great sauce from Farol makes for a tasty combination.

[duckdown]

Awesome, big fan of churrasqueira chicken and I live in Peel region as well. Cawthra is a little far south for my usual trekking distance for food, but if this place is good, it might be worth the drive. I like that they have homemade piri piri sauce for sale too, I think I'll pick some up.

Maybe I'll head over today when I'm done work.. I don't suppose you recall the price of an A-La carte chicken? Usually they're $9-$11

Thanks for the tip! Keep the Mississauga/Brampton suggestions rolling :)

cheers

[Pastryrocks]

I don't recall but around $9-10 each sounds right.