Churrasco & Brazilian BBQ in Australia

Brazilian barbecue is Churrasco: large cuts of beef, pork, chicken and sausage seasoned with coarse salt, grilled slowly on long skewers over charcoal and carved at the table. In Australia it shows up in three forms — the churrascaria restaurant with its all-you-can-eat rodízio, the BBQ caterer who brings the grill to your backyard, and the Brazilian butcher who sells the cuts so you can do it yourself.

This guide lists every churrascaria, Brazilian BBQ caterer and Brazilian butcher on Canguaru, by city and state, so you can match the craving to the occasion.

What makes churrasco different from Aussie BBQ

The technique is the difference. Australian barbecue is fast and flat — hotplate, marinades, sauces. Churrasco is slow and vertical: whole cuts on metal skewers, rotated over embers for 40 minutes to an hour, seasoned with nothing but rock salt so the meat and the fat carry the flavour. The fat cap is the point, not the problem.

The signature cut is picanha — the top sirloin cap, sliced into thick crescents with the fat cap left on, curled onto the skewer and grilled until the edges char. Other staples on a Brazilian grill:

• Fraldinha — flank steak, juicy and quick
• Alcatra — rump, sliced thin
• Costela — beef ribs, cooked for hours
• Linguiça — pork sausage, often the first thing off the grill
• Coração de frango — chicken hearts, the cut that divides the table
• Queijo coalho — grilling cheese, for the vegetarians and everyone else

On the side: farofa, vinagrete, white rice, black beans and pão de alho (garlic bread). A churrascaria that serves these properly is one worth going back to.

Three ways to get churrasco in Australia

Churrascarias and rodízio

The restaurant version. Rodízio means the meat keeps coming: waiters walk the room with skewers and carve at your table until you flip the card to red. Expect a salad bar and hot sides included. Sydney, the Gold Coast and Perth have the most options; several also run a cheaper lunch rodízio or an à la carte menu for smaller appetites.

BBQ catering and private events

The version Brazilians in Australia actually use most. A churrasqueiro arrives with the grill, the skewers and the meat, cooks on site and serves for a set number of guests — birthdays, weddings, corporate days, festas juninas. Book two to three weeks ahead for weekends, longer in December.

Brazilian butchers

For the home grill. A Brazilian butcher cuts picanha the Brazilian way — fat cap on, whole, not portioned into steaks — and usually stocks linguiça, coração, queijo coalho and the coarse salt. Ask for the cut by name; most also sell skewers and rotisserie kits.

Where churrasco shows up in Australia

Sydney has the deepest bench: churrascarias in the eastern suburbs and the northern beaches, plus most of the country's BBQ caterers. Brisbane and the Gold Coast come second, with a strong catering scene around Surfers Paradise and Southport. Perth has a small but loyal set of restaurants and the best-known Brazilian butcher in the country. Melbourne and Adelaide have a handful of each. Every listing in this guide tells you which of the three it is, where it is, and links to book or order.

How to use this guide

Browse by city and state. Listings marked as restaurants take walk-ins or bookings; caterers take enquiries and quotes; butchers are open-hours shops. We link to websites and social accounts so you can check what's on the grill this week.

Know a churrasqueiro or butcher we've missed? Listings on Canguaru are free — tell us and we'll add them.