What to Eat in Florianópolis: Santa Catarina Oysters, Sequência de Camarão & Tainha

Designated in 2014 as Brazil's first UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy, Florianópolis blends eighteenth-century Azorean Portuguese sea-cooking with Indigenous Guarani cassava traditions and cold-current Atlantic mariculture. Because the cold Falkland (Malvinas) ocean current meets warm coastal waters off Santa Catarina Island, the surrounding bays produce some of the cleanest, most flavourful shellfish and finfish in the Southern Hemisphere.

1. Ostras de Florianópolis (Santa Catarina Pacific Oysters)

Florianópolis is the undisputed Oyster Capital of Brazil, accounting for roughly 95 percent of national cultivated oyster production (over 2,500 tonnes per year). Introduced in the 1980s through marine research by the Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC), Pacific cupped oysters (Crassostrea gigas) grow on suspended lantern nets in the nutrient-rich waters of the North and South Bays, maturing in just 8 to 10 months.

• How to Order Them: In the waterfront restaurants of Santo Antônio de Lisboa, Sambaqui, and Ribeirão da Ilha, oysters are lifted straight from submerged sea cages next to the pier and served by the half-dozen or dozen in four classic preparations: in natura (raw on crushed ice with lemon), ao bafo (lightly steamed), gratinadas (baked with creamy béchamel and Parmesan crust), and ao vinagrete.

2. Sequência de Camarão and Pirão de Caldo de Peixe

Along the Avenida das Rendeiras on Lagoa da Conceição and at the boat-access piers of Costa da Lagoa, the signature midday feast for two or more people is the Sequência de Camarão (Prawn Sequence). Rather than a single plate, waiters bring a continuous five-course parade of local pink and seven-beard shrimp:

1. Casquinha de Siri: Baked crabmeat gratin served in a scallop shell to start.
2. Camarão ao Alho e Óleo: Whole shell-on prawns flash-fried crisp with roasted garlic and parsley.
3. Camarão à Milanesa: Golden breaded and fried butterflied prawns.
4. Camarão aoBafo: Steamed lagoon shrimp with lemon.
5. Filé de Peixe com Molho de Camarão e Pirão: Grilled white fish fillets topped with tomato-shrimp stew, accompanied by rice, hand-cut chips, and pirão de peixe (a silky, savoury porridge whisked from steaming fish stock and toasted artisanal cassava flour from traditional island engenhos de farinha).

3. Tainha na Brasa (May to July) and Pastel de Berbigão

If you visit between May and July during the annual winter migration of silver mullet (Mugil liza) up the southern coast, order Tainha Escalada na Brasa: whole mullet butterflied flat, grilled over charcoal embers at Pântano do Sul or Barra da Lagoa, and stuffed with savoury cassava farofa, or try pan-seared ovas de tainha (golden mullet roe). Year-round at the downtown Mercado Público, don't miss a hot, flaky pastel de berbigão stuffed with tiny lagoon cockles (Anomalocardia brasiliana) braised with tomato, onion, and green herbs.