Dinner every day from 6pm to 11:30pm in the garden of Pousada Toca da Coruja: contemporary regional cooking and a cellar with a sommelier. Ask for a table.
On Avenida Baía dos Golfinhos, inside the Pousada Toca da Coruja, the restaurant OCA by Toca fills a dining room of earthen arches, with wicker chairs, candles and pierced-metal lamps, and a terrace open to the tropical garden. The menu blends regional Brazilian cooking with contemporary gastronomy, and the wine cellar is chosen by the house sommelier. It opens every day from 6pm to 11:30pm.
| Format | Restaurant inside a guesthouse, with a dining room and a terrace on the garden |
|---|---|
| Area | Avenida Baía dos Golfinhos, Pipa |
| Address | Pousada Toca da Coruja, Av. Baía dos Golfinhos 462, Tibau do Sul (RN), postcode 59178-000 |
| Hours | Every day, 6pm to 11:30pm |
| Cuisine | Regional Brazilian and contemporary, by chef Wagner Aguiar |
| Service | Dinner and drinks, with table service |
| Wine cellar | With a sommelier |
| Payment | American Express, Mastercard and Visa credit cards |
| Contact | +55 84 3246-2226 |
The menu has eight blocks: starters, regional dishes, fish and seafood, meat and poultry, pasta, vegetarian, kids' menu and desserts. It is written in Portuguese and English, and almost every dish carries an ingredient or a technique from the region: regional fish, organic shrimp, house-made sun-dried beef, coalho cheese, baroa potato, green-bean farofa.
There is a green salad with sliced pear, marinated vegetables and herbed cheese, dressed with a red wine vinaigrette; a creamy caprese with steamed organic shrimp; a melon and house yoghurt gazpacho with a touch of dedo-de-moça pepper, served with shrimp rolls and basil from the garden; a fresh regional tuna tartare with olive and caper tapenade and sesame oil, on a tower of toast; and an octopus carpaccio with rocket pesto, oyster oil, bittersweet pineapple jam, grated sesame and passion fruit caviar. A crunchy crab moqueca with curry and fresh coconut cream closes the block.
There are four. Regional fish grilled in a banana leaf, stuffed with shrimp and banana farofa, with fresh coconut rice and a three-pepper vinegar, which the menu itself flags as a sustainable option. A medallion of house-made sun-dried beef, grilled and stuffed with roasted coalho cheese, with cassava cream and green-bean farofa with bacon. Oxtail in a house seasoning, finished over embers, with oxtail risotto and rocket pesto sauce. And a roasting pan of organic seafood, grilled vegetables and fruit, with aromatic oil and broccoli rice, for two people.
The section has six dishes: regional fish roasted in a coconut crust on fresh shiitake and shimeji with broad beans; regional fish roasted under caramelised nuts, with baroa potato purée and a Sicilian lemon and coconut sauce; seared fresh regional tuna loin on red Moroccan couscous with ponzu sauce, regional honey and bittersweet pineapple jam; organic shrimp in soy sauce with pineapple chutney and jasmine rice; grilled organic shrimp sticks on lemongrass, with mussel sauce and Moroccan couscous; and an organic shrimp risotto with rocket.
Filet mignon stuffed with a trio of roasted tomatoes, in a red wine sauce and with a shiitake and shimeji risotto. Lamb shoulder slow-roasted and caramelised in the oven, with red wine sauce and regional yellow farofa with bacon, for two people. Duck confit on a dried-fruit tabbouleh, with sweet potato and carrot purée scented with ginger and a pitanga reduction. And roast chicken stuffed with almond farofa, with smoked baroa potato purée and roasted garlic.
The pastas are spaghetti al sugo with grilled organic shrimp, a house-made four-cheese rondelli (cottage cheese, mozzarella, provolone and parmesan) with béchamel and a thread of basil pesto, and a house-made spinach and ricotta cannelloni with béchamel and pesto. The vegetarian part has two dishes: vegetable spaghetti with cashews and walnuts, peppers, red onion and fresh mushrooms, and marinated vegetables au gratin in tomato sauce with parmesan.
The kids' menu offers grilled filet mignon with fries and rice, grilled chicken fillet with fries and rice, and spaghetti with white sauce or tomato sauce.
There are three: a dulce de leche petit gâteau with passion fruit jam and vanilla ice cream; a bittersweet chocolate tart with creamy coconut ice cream; and an apricot tartlet with a dried-fruit and cachaça crumble and vanilla ice cream.
Two dishes on the menu are made for sharing: the lamb shoulder, which serves two, and the roasting pan of organic seafood, also for two, which the menu says takes 60 minutes to prepare. That is why it pays to order it as soon as you sit down and let the starters fill the wait.
The house has a wine cellar, with a wine list chosen by its sommelier. In the photos you can see crystal glasses already set on the dining-room tables and a lit window with bottles lying behind a grille, in a brick wall, which is the cellar seen from outside. Among the declared services are dinner and drinks, so you can come for a glass or close the night with something in hand.
The house describes the place as a space where music, lighting, aroma and flavour blend in harmony with nature, quiet and surrounded by a tropical garden. The photos show how: earthen arches with a hand-made texture, wicker armchairs and chairs, round wooden tables with fibre place mats, crystal glasses, pierced-metal lanterns, candles, woven lamps hanging from the ceiling and a curtain of ornaments hung from threads.
The crockery tells you where you are, too: it is hand-painted with the name of the guesthouse. It is a setting for an unhurried dinner, with the table laid before the first dish arrives.
OCA by Toca opens every day from 6pm to 11:30pm, with no closing day. It is a dinner restaurant: it does not serve by day, so plan to give it the whole evening.
With the menu in front of you the time sorts itself out: a starter, a main and a dessert make a two-hour dinner, and if the plan includes the seafood roasting pan, which asks for 60 minutes of preparation, arrive before 9pm so as not to squeeze the 11:30pm closing.
The restaurant is inside the Pousada Toca da Coruja, at Avenida Baía dos Golfinhos 462, Tibau do Sul, postcode 59178-000, the village's main avenue, which runs down towards Praia da Pipa. The plus code is QWCX+M9, which you can paste straight into any map.
If you are arriving from Natal or the airport, see the transfer options for the long leg, and for the rest of the way there is the guide on how to get to Pipa.
The menu includes a kids' menu with three dishes that need no explaining. The vegetarian part has two options with names of their own, and among the pastas the spinach and ricotta cannelloni and the four-cheese rondelli also read meat-free.
For the special dinner of the trip: the anniversary, the couple's night or a small group that wants to sit among candles and greenery. For anyone who has come to try contemporary regional cooking, with regional fish and sun-dried beef.
Also for anyone who enjoys wine, because the cellar and the sommelier make the bottle part of the dinner. And for travelling families, who have a kids' menu of their own.
Every day at 6pm, and it closes at 11:30pm.
No. The restaurant serves in the evening, from 6pm to 11:30pm.
The menu is by chef Wagner Aguiar and blends regional Brazilian cooking with contemporary gastronomy.
Yes. The menu has a vegetarian section with vegetable spaghetti with cashews and walnuts, and marinated vegetables au gratin with parmesan.
Yes: grilled filet mignon or grilled chicken fillet with fries and rice, or spaghetti with white sauce or tomato sauce.
Yes, with a wine list chosen by the house sommelier.
Yes: American Express, Mastercard and Visa credit cards.
Inside the Pousada Toca da Coruja, Avenida Baía dos Golfinhos 462, Tibau do Sul (RN), postcode 59178-000.
+55 84 3246-2226, also on WhatsApp.
Message OCA by Toca and ask about the wine cellar and the menu
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