Restaurant by the sea in the Center Beach.
Largo São Sebastião runs down to the sand, and at number 12 the Caxangá sign hangs out over the beach with the sea behind it. Below it there is a wooden terrace and a thatch-roofed dining room open to the water: petiscos, seafood and drinks, with live forró pé de serra. It opens at nine in the morning every day, so the same table works for lunch watching the boats and for a night of music.
Ask on WhatsApp who is playing tonight
| Area | Largo São Sebastião, Praia da Pipa, right on the sand |
|---|---|
| Address | Largo São Sebastião 12, Praia da Pipa, Tibau do Sul (RN) |
| Hours | Sunday to Tuesday 09:00–23:30 · Wednesday 09:00–16:00 · Thursday to Saturday 09:00–23:30 |
| Kitchen | Brazilian, seafood |
| Music | Live forró pé de serra |
| Menu | A photo book, dish by dish, in Portuguese and English |
| Contact | +55 84 99141-0304 · @restaurantecaxanga |
The house sums itself up in one line: petiscos, seafood and drinks. The menu is a spiral-bound book with a photograph of every dish and names written in Portuguese and in English, which helps when nobody at the table speaks the language, and it is laid out in chapters: the lobsters, the sides and the salads each get a page of their own.
Lagosta inteira assada opens the chapter: a whole lobster, carefully roasted, served with three sides of your choosing. It is the dish you order once the table has decided this is the meal of the trip.
The larger version is lagosta inteira assada com mix de frutos do mar, and the menu spells out exactly what comes with it: whole lobster, unpeeled prawns, a fillet of fresh fish and grilled octopus, again with three sides. The house notes at the foot of the page that it serves four people, so it is a plate for the middle of the table rather than for one.
On the same page sits the camarão "surpresa" Caxangá, which carries the house's own name.
The rest of the kitchen shows up on the tables. The ula-ula no abacaxi — breaded prawns served inside a pineapple, the fruit's own shell standing in for a bowl — is the one that appears most, and it is the face the house puts forward. The prawns also come on a white plate with pineapple, for anyone who would rather skip the theatre.
The crabs arrive whole in a clay pot, and you eat them with your hands, which is the only way. The grilled octopus is served on a long platter with rice and mashed potato, or on the shared platter beside the split lobster. And to start there are fried bolinhos with a dip.
Sides are chosen from a page of their own and they are home cooking: white rice, black beans, vinagrete, farofa, salad and mashed potato. They are the three that come with the lobsters, and the ones that turn a big plate into a table for four.
The salads get their own chapter, three of them. The salada verde is a mix of lettuce and rocket leaves with palm heart, onion, olive oil and the house dressing. The salada tropical changes register: lettuce and rocket with grated carrot, cherry tomato, mango and pineapple in cubes. And the salada caesar comes with iceberg lettuce, strips of chicken breast, house-made croutons and shavings of parmesan, with a mustard-based dressing and the house one.
The house sums up its bar in one word, drinks, and that is part of how it describes itself, along with the petiscos and the seafood. What you see poured at the tables is coconut water in the coconut, opened with a straw in it, which is what gets ordered mid-morning under the thatch.
It is a rustic, open space, and it sits right on the sand. The roof is thatch, held up by posts painted in green, yellow and red stripes. The tables are wood painted blue — the colour that ties half the place together — and the chairs are red and blue. From the terrace you see the water with the boats at anchor, and your table is a step from where the wave breaks.
Seen from the beach the whole thing makes more sense: several thatched pavilions lined up along the shore with the sign above them, and in the late afternoon the light comes in straight at them. From inside it works the other way round: the terrace with its blue cloth faces the water, and the anchored boats land right in the frame from your table.
The detail that says most about the address is the table linen: it carries the restaurant's name printed over and over, under the thatch roof. And in season the little festa junina flags go up above the tables.
Live forró pé de serra is part of the address, and it is the house itself that says so: the music happens in the same room where you eat, with the sea behind it. The dining room is large and tables are pushed together for groups without rearranging half the place, which is exactly what you need when the plate on its way was built for four.
Caxangá opens at nine in the morning seven days a week, so it is one of the addresses on the Largo already working early, as the beach fills up.
On Wednesdays it closes at 16:00, seven and a half hours earlier than the rest of the week. If you are picturing a night of forró, any day works except that one. Sunday to Tuesday and Thursday to Saturday the kitchen runs until 23:30.
At midday the bolinhos and the crabs come out fast and get eaten with the sea in front of you. For a music night, message ahead and ask who is playing. And if the plan is the lobster with the seafood mix, give them notice: it is a big plate and it takes its time in the oven.
It sits on Largo São Sebastião, at number 12, steps from the path down to Praia da Pipa. You can walk there from anywhere in central Pipa, and it is a two-minute climb up from the sand.
Because the place is right on the sand, the tide decides how much beach is left in front of your table and how easy the walk along the bottom is. Check the tide table before you head down: at low tide you can walk the shoreline here from half of Pipa.
Coming from Natal or the airport, check the transfer options and get off in the centre: from there everything is on foot.
A table of four. The lobster with the seafood mix is built for four people and arrives with three sides: it is a meal you hand around rather than divide.
Anyone who wants to eat and stay. Seafood and live music in the same room, with no need to move on after dinner.
Anyone who gets to the beach early. The kitchen opens at nine, so lunch facing the sea is normal service.
At 09:00, every day of the week.
Until 23:30 from Sunday to Tuesday and from Thursday to Saturday. On Wednesdays it closes at 16:00.
Wednesday. It is the day that closes in mid-afternoon.
Yes, live forró pé de serra. Message them on WhatsApp to find out who is playing on your night.
Yes. The menu itself notes that the lagosta inteira assada com mix de frutos do mar — whole lobster, unpeeled prawns, a fillet of fresh fish and grilled octopus — serves four people, and it comes with three sides.
White rice, black beans, vinagrete, farofa, salad and mashed potato. The lobster plates are served with three of them.
It is: every dish is listed in Portuguese and in English, with a photo.
At Largo São Sebastião 12, in Praia da Pipa, steps from the way down to the beach.
Ask for a table on the terrace on WhatsApp
Message them directly and they will tell you what is in the pot today and who is playing tonight.
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