2 Best Restaurants in Salvador and the Bahia Coast, Brazil

Located just off one of Barra Grande’s charming sandy streets, this no-frills wood-oven pizza place is always packed with groups of friends sharing enormous pizzas, pasta, and homemade lasagna at alfresco tables scattered under an almond tree. Italian owner Marco ensures that the service is quick and the thin-crust pizzas are some of the best in Bahia; try the Primavera, with Parma ham and rocket.

Arguably the best-value dining experience in town, this hole-in-the-wall spot is a local favorite for its tasty thin-crust wood-oven pizzas and ice-cold beer, which can be ordered to take away or enjoyed at one of the metal tables set out in the street. Still hungry? Stop off next door for a sugar high at Pavê e Comê, a dessert-only café run by charismatic granny Sonia, who specializes in classic Brazilian treats such as pavê de chocolate com caldo quente e sorvete de maracujá (chocolate cake with hot sauce and passion-fruit ice cream).