The trick at CT Boucherie is to pace yourself, because the meat is only half the meal and the parade of small French sides keeps arriving until you wave it off.
Published June 9, 2026 · By Daniel Okafor
CT Boucherie sits at Rua Dias Ferreira 636, the Leblon street that gathers more of Rio's serious eating and drinking into one block than anywhere else in the Zona Sul. Chef Claude Troisgros opened the room in 2010, and Time Out Rio still files it among the neighbourhood's best tables. The concept reads like a French butcher shop that learned to pour wine.
The model upends the usual Brazilian rodízio. You choose one of 12 cuts, among them prime rib, bife de chorizo, filet mignon, and T-bone, and the kitchen sends a rotating run of sides to your table until you stop them. Frommer's describes the format as a butcher's shop crossed with a bistro, and that captures the spirit better than the word steakhouse does.
This is a bar worth treating as a destination for the drinking as much as the eating. The wine list leans French and Argentine, the by the glass selection is generous, and the bartenders mix a proper caipirinha and a short menu of aperitifs built for the long Leblon evening. Couples who want the romance without the formality should read our guide to the best date night bars in Rio de Janeiro.
Troisgros is the most decorated French chef in Brazil, and the kitchen discipline shows in the sides rather than the showmanship. The pommes, the farofa, the grilled vegetables, and the small salads arrive hot and in sequence, so nothing sits and cools on a buffet. The meat is cooked to order at the temperature you ask for, and the staff will steer first timers toward the prime rib.
The crowd is Leblon through and through. Families fill the lunch service on Sundays, couples take the early dinner, and a later, looser group settles in for wine once the kitchen quiets. Lonely Planet lists the room among its Ipanema and Leblon recommendations, which keeps a steady flow of visitors mixing with the regulars.
Go for an early dinner on a weeknight if you want the full attention of the floor. The Friday and Saturday late seatings run busier, and a table booked after nine on the weekend turns the meal into a long, wine led affair. Lunch is the value play, when the same cuts come at a calmer pace.
CT Boucherie fits naturally with the rest of the Zona Sul drinking circuit. For a view to bookend the meal, Aprazível in Santa Teresa and the rooftop perch at Bar 360 both reward a short taxi ride. All three sit inside the wider Rio de Janeiro wine bar scene that rewards an unhurried night.
On the plate, start with the prime rib if it is your first visit, then let the sides carry the rest. The pommes purée, the grilled provolone, and the farofa arrive in rotation, and the kitchen keeps them coming until you call time. Open with a Malbec from the Argentine end of the list or a caipirinha while you decide.
The service is the quiet strength of the room. The floor staff read a table well, pacing the meat against the sides so nothing piles up, and they steer indecisive groups through the cuts without rushing them. That ease is rarer in Rio than the city's restaurant boom would suggest, and it is a large part of why CT Boucherie has held its reputation for more than a decade.
What regulars praise most is consistency across a large menu, plus a wine program that does not treat the cellar as an afterthought. The recurring caution is the bill, which lands firmly in the $$$ range once the wine and the dessert join the meat. Reserve ahead on weekends, since the dining room fills early and walk-ins wait.
Sources: Time Out Rio de Janeiro restaurant guide; Frommer's Rio de Janeiro; Lonely Planet Ipanema and Leblon listings; CT Boucherie official Facebook page.