Hocca Bar

Located in the Mercadao Municipal area, this restaurant is located in the second floor of this bustling farmer’s market. When I arrived in this area, it’s very similar to farmers markets that have a vast variety of seafood, meats, and eats all over. For me, it felt like a blend of the east meets west, where there were a lot of fruit sellers and of the normal seafood and (cured) meats. We had gone here because one of my favorite actors, Terry Crews, raved about the mortadella sandwich located at Bar do Mane, which is located on the first floor. However, that was closed for some reason, and my partner said this place was better than that place in their opinion.

Ambiance & Service

The actual restaurant area was quite bustling. Because they don’t have air conditioning, they will blow mist when the temperature is unbearable. The noise level is pretty loud because it’s similar to bar crawl places where people drink and eat a lot in a social atmosphere.

After you order, the food comes out very fast as it’s made, so it’s pretty clean and fresh though the things we ordered were mostly fried.

Food

The Suco Morango ($18,90) was a strawberry and orange blended juice. What is very cool about Brazilian drinks when you order fruits is that everything is fresh. These are not processed from a bag and are blended fresh.

The Bolinho de Bacalhau (R$45) came with a large giant codfish croquettes, that was presented like a long fried spear. This was densely filled with codfish, so they weren’t shy about making sure you get plenty of fish. Generally, I’m not a huge fan of bacalhau, but this one was pretty good because of how densely packed it was. In other places in the United States, this one is much smaller, and fish portions are timid.

The Camarão Rei (R$66) came with shrimp in a cheese blend. These pastels were gigantic, but I thought they were not stuffed with enough shrimp. The pastel was very puffy, so it left a lot of room and air for things to move around.

The Rib’s (R$49,50) was a pastel that came with shredded and seasoned pork ribs, chopped onions, blend of cheese, and BBQ sauce. This pastel was actually stuffed with meat, though it didn’t taste as good as the shrimp pastel. The BBQ sauce was similar to fast food restaurant flavors.

The Coxinha Mortadella (R$54,90) came with 6 pieces of ground Hocca mortadella seasoned and blended with cheese. The coxinhas were hefty, and the ground mortadella added a lot of saltiness to the overall flavors.

The Tradicão ($49,50) came with mortadella Hocca and house mayo. This sandwich is what we came for, and it did not disappoint. Granted, I probably can’t eat this everyday because I’ll suffer a heart attack from the sodium and cured meat post-effects. The bread was nice and toasted perfectly, and the mortadella had a similar texture to bologna and was packed with that salty, cured flavor.

Overall Impression

Hocca Bar was pretty good for the famed mortadella sandwich. Everything else was your run of a mill bar food with fried pastels, coxinhas, and bacalhaus. The food is all fresh, and if you’re not into alcoholic drinks, they have good fresh juices.

Yelp & Google Jabs

It was… Quite an experience. I came for the sandwich that has what seems to be an immeasurable amount of ham.

This “lost filipina” was definitely lost. It may look like ham, but it’s mortadella. The taste and texture definitely does not remind me of ham.

The portion was really big, but the taste was extremely bland and nothing special. I’ve had much better in different places in Brasil and Portugal at a much cheaper price. A high service charge is also added to the already high prices.

Even with the lime, it wasn’t enough acidity to create a different taste. It still mostly tasted like fried mashed potatoes with fish in it. Despite that, I’m sure in certain environments this would be pretty tasty.

Revisions

1. Mar 8, 2026 - Initial revision.