Pool, rock, drinks, petiscos, brochettes and the coldest beer!
On Avenida Baía dos Golfinhos, at number 234, there is an arcade that opens inwards: the Galeria Kanto da Pipa. In unit 5, at the back, you will find BarGunça de Vicente, a courtyard with tables under the trees where you drink, eat and listen to live music. Vicente opened it in December 2017, and the name plays on the word "bagunça". It opens evenings only, at six.
Check their Instagram to see what the courtyard looks like this week
| Area | Galeria Kanto da Pipa, Avenida Baía dos Golfinhos, central Praia da Pipa |
|---|---|
| Address | Av. Baía dos Golfinhos 234, unit 5, Praia da Pipa, Tibau do Sul (RN) |
| Hours | Tuesday to Thursday 6pm to 11pm · Friday and Saturday 6pm to midnight · closed Sunday and Monday |
| What it is | A bar with a kitchen, open since December 2017 |
| To drink | More than 60 cocktails, beer, wine and spirits |
| To eat | Espetinhos, petiscos, gluten-free Argentine empanadas and pizza brotinho |
| Service | Outdoor tables with waiters, takeaway and delivery |
| Music | Live music |
| Reservations | Accepted |
| With a dog | Dogs are allowed |
| Accessibility | Wheelchair-accessible entrance and bathroom |
| Contact | @barguncadevicente |
These are the backbone of the kitchen and they always come with farofa and chimichurri: beef, chicken, heart and queijo coalho. You can also order them as a combo, one beef and one chicken. They arrive on a wooden board with the sauces in little pots on the side, which is how they appear in the house's own photographs.
To go with the round: garlic bread made from two baguettes, chipped potatoes — fried or air-fried —, crisp chicken cubes with chips, crisp aubergine cubes with chips, crisp queijo coalho, cheese balls, and quibe of carne de sol in cream. This is the line that holds a long table together without turning into a main course.
This is what sets the menu apart: oven-baked empanadas declared gluten free, served with chimichurri and ketchup, in four fillings — beef; ham and mozzarella; broccoli, onion and mozzarella; tomato, pesto and mozzarella. The mozzarella they use is lactose free. The house asks you to flag any food allergy.
Four versions, in a small format for one person: mozzarella, margherita, calabresa and bacon. It is the heartiest thing on the menu and the one that closes a long night.
The house announces more than sixty cocktails on its own profile, and that is what fills half the photo gallery: signature glasses with rosemary and dried orange, tall drinks with fruit, a frosted copper mug, a coupe with foam and cinnamon, a red martini with a cucumber spiral. There is a list of caipirinhas, caipiroskas and caipifrutas, alongside the classics.
On the beer side there are long necks, draught and craft beer; also whisky, red and white wine, and spirits. The house is listed as serving food at the bar, so a round can run from a stool with the wall of bottles and the lit bar sign behind it.
The house calls itself cosy, casual, romantic, on-trend and quiet, and it works because it sits inside an arcade: you cannot see it from the avenue, you have to walk in. The courtyard has tables under the trees, hanging lights and a bar at the back with the name lit up above the bottles.
There is live music — the house publishes that on its own profile — and dancing appears among the declared options. Service is at table, with waiters, and there is free wi-fi and a bathroom on site. It is marked as a good place to go alone: with a bar, music and sixty-plus cocktails, that follows.
The name explains the rest. Vicente put the place together in December 2017 playing on the word "bagunça", and in River Plate Spanish that same idea of cheerful disorder has a nickname of its own. That is the spirit of the house, as told by the house.
BarGunça opens Tuesday to Saturday at 6pm. It closes at 11pm from Tuesday to Thursday and at midnight on Friday and Saturday. It is closed on Sunday and Monday, and that is the first thing to note: two days a week the courtyard does not open.
The first hour, between six and eight, is the calmest: the courtyard freshly lit, the tables free and the whole cocktail list ahead of you. It is also the time that works best if you are coming with a dog or with children.
From nine onwards the music starts and the courtyard fills. On Friday and Saturday the house runs to midnight, and those are the two nights worth arriving early for or booking: the bar takes reservations and the courtyard is not large.
One practical note about the location: because it sits inside the arcade, the noise of the avenue stays outside and a table holds a conversation end to end without anyone raising their voice.
It is at Avenida Baía dos Golfinhos 234, unit 5, inside the Galeria Kanto da Pipa, right in central Pipa. The entrance is a passage off the avenue: you walk through and the courtyard appears at the back.
From the path down to Praia da Pipa it is a few minutes on foot along the avenue, which fills with people after dark. No parking is declared, so walking is the sensible way to arrive.
Coming from Natal, from the airport or from another beach, look at the transfer options: with a place that opens at night and closes at midnight, it pays to have the return journey sorted.
Dogs are allowed, and no other bar in the guide declares that. If you are travelling with your dog, that changes the shape of the whole evening: the courtyard is open, with tables under the trees, and nobody has to stay behind at the guesthouse.
The house is also listed as good for children. Queijo coalho skewers, chipped potatoes and the small pizzas settle that table without fuss, and the first hour — six to eight — is the calmest for a family.
On accessibility, BarGunça declares a wheelchair-accessible entrance and bathroom, the two attributes that count for more and that hardly anywhere else in the village publishes.
The empanadas are declared gluten free on the house's own menu, and the mozzarella they are filled with is lactose free. There are four fillings and they are ordered two at a time. For the rest of the menu, the house asks you to flag any food allergy before ordering, so it is worth saying so as you sit down.
For anyone travelling with a dog who wants an evening out without leaving them shut in: here they come along.
For a table that wants drinks and things to pick at rather than a formal dinner: sixty-plus cocktails, skewers and petiscos, with live music behind it.
For anyone avoiding gluten or lactose who usually ends up left out of a bar menu, because the empanadas were built for exactly that.
Yes. The house declares that dogs are allowed, and the courtyard is open, with tables under the trees.
No. It is closed on Sunday and Monday. It opens Tuesday to Saturday from 6pm.
Until 11pm from Tuesday to Thursday, and until midnight on Friday and Saturday.
Yes, the house publishes that on its own profile, and dancing is among its declared options.
Yes: the Argentine empanadas are declared gluten free on the house's menu, and they are filled with lactose-free mozzarella.
Yes: the house declares a wheelchair-accessible entrance and a wheelchair-accessible bathroom.
At Avenida Baía dos Golfinhos 234, unit 5, inside the Galeria Kanto da Pipa, in central Praia da Pipa.
The house takes reservations. The published channel is its Instagram, @barguncadevicente, where they answer by direct message. Friday and Saturday are the two nights it is worth doing, because the courtyard is small and those are the ones that run to midnight.
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