Kitanda Brazilian Bakery & Espresso

Went there today and I’ll never go again.
First I have to deal with grumpy barista, but ok, that can happen anywhere. After I purchased the foods and drinks for my family I went back and asked for a paper cup for a drink that I already purchased. I was asked to pay 50 cents! For a paper cup! I’m sorry but this is just insane, never going there again.

Visited once.
Coffee VERY good.
Sweets VERY sweet – too sweet for my taste.
Good service.
Ambience is spare strip-​mall convience store feel. OK, but not a place I plan to go again.
EXCELLENT if you want to watch Brazilian soccer, and there is also a very limited selection of Brazilian packaged food.

Yummy! This spot is a lot «newer» than the other one I’ve been to. Took my cheese bread to go, but it looked like a nice place to be on your laptop.

Came here because I heard about their cheese bread, which are very cheesy and delicious! They have other pastries that are pretty good too. The flan is very interesting, unlike any flan I’ve ever tasted since they make it with cheese. The stroganoff is also not bad, the meat is a little overcooked and the sauce is different than a normal stroganoff but it’s still pretty good.
They also have this Brazilian soda in a green can called Guarana Antarctica that is really good! Apparently it’s made from a fruit in Brazil and they import it here.
The service here is not so good, the few times I’ve came here it seems like the people who work here are very unfriendly. They don’t greet you or say anything other than ask you what you want with no smile on their faces and just seem to be in a bad mood.
Overall, it’s a nice little café to get your coffee or lunch or meet with someone, but they could definitely have some improvements, especially with their service and just being more friendly to customers.

Ever wanted to experience a litttle bit of Brazil? Wanted to try their food without the $ 45 price tag at the Brazilian Steakhouse?
Kitanda is a great start! Their food is delicious and def authentic. They have chocolates and cookies, sodas and other convenience items from the homeland. They make entrees fresh and have precooked snacks in the case to heat up for you.
I must admit the coffee has never been great there, so we dont buy coffee. But we love the food and the people. Brazilian people should se the example for the way the Americans should be. If you dont know how, then you need to come and meet them!
If you wanna see some fun soccer games, come here. They will play it on their ONE tv and 50 people will be there yelling and screaming for their team. It is always fun.
Great place to experience a better part of the world.

These stars are based on the incredible food flavor & value and friendly owners. Ambience is 3 stars (average coffee shop setting with TVs running soccer & Brazilian programming). However, for me, the FOOD is most important unless I’m in a fine-​dining restaurant.
My husband and I were BLOWN AWAY by our Sat afternoon lunch (also dinner since we will be too full for another meal today!) We decided to share the Fejioda (special dish served only on Sat) and a Brazilian Churrasco sandwich, followed by cheese flan and Cubano coffees for dessert.
The Fejioda, a stew made of black beans, savory spices, generous & tender chunks of pork, beef & sausage with a scoop of fluffy white rice, collard greens and farofa (an interesting condiment). OMG this dish exploded with flavor! A huge plate of food for only $ 8.90?! Yes, trust me, if this were a more «fancy» restaurant it would go for twice the price! On Sun they serve another special dish called Espetinho which are skewers of beef & chicken. I may have to return tomorrow to try it! All other menu items are available daily.
The Churasco sandwich was a tender, flavorful, thin grilled steak (real steak not pressed beef) served on a homemade roll, wonderful seasoned, roped with melted mozzarella cheese and dressed with mayo, lettuce & tomatoes. It comes with fries (average) but you can substitute other side items. This was so good and much better than a Philly cheesesteak sandwich from Lenny’s my favorite sandwich place in Memphis.
Although we were fully satiated after sharing the above, after sitting in front of the pastry case, we pushed on and shared an order of the cheese flan — this is different from any flan I’ve had before and much better! A thick, sweet serving a flan with the perfect balance of density & creaminess, caramelized on top and resting in a puddle of sweet, caramel sauce. It was heavenly… my hubby claimed to have experienced a mouthgasm! Accompanied by a dense, flavorful Cuban coffee, with a splash of sweetened condensed milk on the bottom and a cinnamon stick to stir it all up. Wow. Enough. I’m drained from reliving the meal through this review. Really, I can’t take any more… but I WILL BE BACK!

Beef stroganoff is the bomb!
Black beans — salty and comforting… :)
Cuban espresso — tangy at the top and sweet at the bottom. Mmm!
Lunch served during weekdays too.
Always busy with family, couple, and friends.
Tons of parking spots.
I love this place!
Want more couch space!

Love that I stumbled upon Kitanda. The staff was warm and helpful. Having never experienced Brazilian coffee and food they filled me in. I tried the cheese roll which was delicious and the latte bolder than usual which was a pleasant surprise.
I loved the dark walls and yellow mugs. Great energy and people. I enjoyed doing some writing while snacking on my cheese roll and being warmed by the latte on this cold fall day.
I’ll definitely be back!

Cuban Espresso with a rich drop of sweet condenced milk on the bottom.
Tiny porcelain cup. Textury deep web of foam on top. Aroma of best coffee beans as a treat in the middle. And a dessert waiting on the bottom, stir it up all at once with the cinnamon stick or sip and dip the cinnamon stick into the rich treat of the sweet milk.
All I need is a Cuban cigar:) lol
Starbucks, move over!

Stopped here for coffee and a Brazilian pastry for breakfast.
This is a trendy, casual kind of place with plenty of room to relax and use your laptop.
Now the pastries. The winner — coxinha. This is a flavorful shredded chicken mixture stuffed inside mashed potato ball with a curley cue top. It was then deep fried, but not oily.
The other winner, a Croquette de mandioca, cheese flavored mashed potato ball, stuffed with a savory ground beef filling.
It was fun trying something new. The coffee was good too.

Go. Go quickly. Order any of the weirdly inviting pastries in the counter, pick up a bag of the WORLD’S BEST COFFEE BEANS and maybe some Brazilian chocolate, get your mocha fix with a smile. Yup, there’s a soccer game on the big TV. Sure, the kids run around and yell in Portugese. That’s why it’s so great. It’s like a little bit of Sao Paulo landed in Seattle, and brought the sunshine with it.
Don’t forget to buy those coffee beans. Really.

I went there this afternoon with a friend, and had a vanilla latte and a sort of cheese pastry (unfortunately, I forgot to catch the name.)
The coffee was one of the better cups I’ve had in awhile, and I absolutely loved the pastry! It was an interesting blend of sweet and cheesy, and left me feeling pretty satisfied afterwards.
The bakery was filled with professionals, most likely on their lunch break, so I felt like it was more of an environment suited for that kind of crowd.
Still, I think the pastry is what won me over and bumps up to a 4 star rating. :) I’ll definitely be coming again to try some of the Brazilian dishes!

I’ve been wanting to try this place out for awhile but I always have my kids with me. I finally relented and dropped in with my kids anyway. The place was nicely set up and clean. They had some shelves and a refrigerator with selected Brazilian groceries. The owner appeared to be sincere. I wasn’t sure what to expect pastries wise but their selection looked good and the prices were decent. They also have a lunch menu which listed steak and rice and beans. Almost every sandwich listed ham as an ingredient. My husband will like that. I’ll have to return to try their food one day.
The kids got sugared up-​sodas and chocolates made with condensed milk. I’m not a huge sweets person but the chocolates were good and my kids begged for more. I had the Brazilian mocha and rice pudding. I loved the mocha. It wasn’t overly sweet like most coffee shops make mochas and you could still taste the coffee (which was strong but not bitter). The rice pudding was very good as well. Not too sweet but nice and creamy. I look forward to try their other menu items.

I’m so hesitant to give Kitanda a 3 stars because I really like the place. They have great coffee. I am addicted to their Brazilian ice mocha of which they make with condense milk. It taste like a Starbucks latte married with a Vietnamese ice coffee. I’m a black coffee drinker but I make exception for this drink when I go to Kitanda, it’s just THAT good.
So why 3 stars? Because of the service. The place is constantly evolving. Every time I go, they are always doing some major renovation. Therefore, their service is extremely slow. And for some bizarre reason, every time I order my coffee, they ALWAYS manage to get it wrong, albeit size, ice/​hot preference or flavor. I feel bad because I always have to send my drink back to get it fixed.
Another thing is their pastry. Since they pre-​make everything, the pastries in the display case are cold. The servers then heat them up in their microwave. Most of their pastries are fried. Microwaving them ended up softening the pastries, ending in soggy, unpleasant taste.
Their sweet pastries fair better. The flan is very delicious, eggy, rich and creamy. The brigadeiro is also tasty.
Give this place a try, if not for their coffee. I know all of you are dying to try the love-​child of that Starbucks latte and Vietnamese ice coffee.

Kitanda has the best coffee/​Americano that I’ve had so far in Redmond or Bellevue. (Yes, there are some nice places in Seattle, which have better coffee.) The service is always friendly, and they serve a good assortment of Brazilian pastries. My favorite is the pao de queijo (cheese bread), though at times it can be hard if it is not freshly baked.
During lunch time, they serve a rotating daily special, consisting generally of a meat, a starch/​beans, and maybe some random side salad (the last of which is so-​so). My favorite — feijoada (pork and bean stew, served over rice, with farofa sprinkled on top) — is served on Saturdays.
Due to the layout/​floorplan, unfortunately, the ambience is dark. But man, I do like their Americanos.

Coffee and pastry is tasty. The atmosphere is a bit dark for cafes and no power on the outlets. Maybe they don’t want you to stay long. Thumbs up for their creativity on the coffee art. Bottom line: come here if you want to get a taste of the exotic. If you want to chill and do some work, I suggest going somewhere brighter with a source of electricity.

Having visited the Kirkland location of Kitanda a few times, I was familiar with the offerings here. The location in Redmond is a lot more accessible. It is located in a strip mall with tons of parking, unlike the Kirkland location which can be often full. In terms of space, this location seems a lot more comfortable and spacious. There are also two television screens which was showing the Argentina-​Mexico World Cup game today. Not surprisingly, people were rooting for Mexico. Oh Brazilians and their futbol.
The biggest reason to come here is for their Brazilian mochas and their Brazilian baked goods/​snacks. There is also a small grocery section of goods. I noticed in the refrigerated case there was some cassava, frozen chicken cones and linguica. Linguica (Portuguese sausage) is a favorite of mine, so am interested to see where this version was made. With the Uwajimaya up the street, this block in Bellevue/​Redmond may just be the best area to buy linguica.
I got a 12 oz. Brazilian mocha ($ 2.99) which is made with Caffe D’Arte coffee beans. In addition I got three baked goods, all savory. They were the chicken cone ($ 1.99), a ham, cheese and tomato pastry ($ 1.99) and a cheese bread ($ 1.50).
As always, the mocha was excellent. I much prefer this over a regular mocha and it is cheaper in fact. As for the baked goods, this location suffers from the same issue that the Kirkland has in which the bread consistency is not there. There are parts that just are not soft, but rather stale.
The chicken cone was disappointing. Actually, the bread part was not bad. It was the chicken filling which was dry white meat. It needs some sort of sauce to season it. The ham and cheese pastry has the opposite conundrum. Good filling, but bread is not very soft. Same goes with the cheese bread. The baked goods have moments of sheer brilliance, but needs a little work. I will say these are very filling. Two of any of the baked goods offered here would make for a decent small lunch.
I love Kitanda for their Brazilian mochas which are perfect. If only they would work on the baked goods, I would come here more often.

My Brazilian Mocha had the cutest teddy bear face in the foam, pure coffee art! Not only did it look great, it was great tasting. They had a fantastic selection of sweet and savory pastries plus a few hot plate lunch specials. Try the cheese rolls!
My 5 star list —
Very relaxed atmosphere
Free Wi-​Fi
Good selection of retail items (coffee, ect)
Freezer case full of take home bake items (YUM)
Great savory pastry selection
Amazing coffee (and foam art)

A well-​kept Kitanda secret: «bacon-​wrapped chicken breast kabob».
Yep, you heard me. This place serves a daily lunch special (which changes daily) for a mere $ 4.90 (plus tax) and have only recently (as in within the past week or so) put up a sign indicating they served lunch. Many folks have came and gone without any knowledge of the delicious lunches Kitanda serves. I guess they wanted to keep it a secret to outsiders like me, but I did my Unilocal research before I visited. That and maybe because I saw like 5 other people devouring their plate of meaty goodness.
So what exactly did the lunch special come with, you might ask. Well, I ate here twice and the first time was definitely better because I got the bacon-​wrapped kabob. It came with a side of beans that were cooked with bacon and sausages (yum), basmati rice, and a potato. The second time I tried to order the kabob I was told they didn’t make it that day so I ended up with a huuuge, flattened piece of grilled chicken breast. The sides were slightly different too, but still delicious.
I ordered the cold and hot versions of the Brazilian Mocha and definitely enjoyed the hot mocha more. The warmth brings out the sweet and bitter tastes of the drink. Man, I miss this place so much right now!
**There are 2 – 3 options for the daily special: chicken, beef, and sometimes shrimp… all are $ 4.90 a plate**

$ 1.99 Brazilian Mocha? YUM. I’m sort of obsessed.
I haven’t eaten the food here, but I can’t stop coming in for the aforementioned Brazilian Mocha. There’s lots of seating and space, Brazilian/​Portuguese DVDs and books for sale (so it appears, at least), and lots of people hanging out and speaking Portuguese.
Yay!