Night Moves @ Boteco do Brasil

It’s Halloween 2013, and I’m in Düsseldorf’s Altstadt (quite literally, “old town”), knocking back Caipirinhas with two Brazilians I just met. Alone, lost, and radically drunk in a foreign city, I’m trying to make myself understood over the blare of the trashy European dance music that Germans adore, but the Brazilians can’t stop laughing at my accent. They’re amazed by the way I pronounce “girl” and they keep asking me to say it again. Each time I respond in a more overly-affected Scots accent until I’m shouting “GIRRUL,” which leaves my new companions rolling endless guttural “r”s in tears. They have never heard anything like that, they say. Their attempts to teach me Portuguese in their Sao Paolo dialect is, unsurprisingly, a non-starter. It is hard enough to speak my native tongue after so much cachaça.

I was the first Scottish person those guys had ever met. For any readers yet to encounter a taste of Brazil, I can think of no easier or better way than to slide into Boteco’s vibrant milieu. This Latin outpost on the Trongate is a haven for the city’s Brazilian population (which is larger than you might expect) and a favourite among those who have settled here. Weekend nights are wild, with salsa dancing and exotic pop music until the wee hours. The food is authentic, and as for the caipirinhas? Well, they’re the best I’ve sampled this side of Dusseldorf, and just as potent as I remember. Partying here, it’s easy to forget you’re closer to Royston than Rio de Janeiro: it is the perfect place to stave off the cruel midwinter cold. Go, drink, dance, and be transported.

Boteco do Brasil

Q: What’s your favourite Christmas movie?

1. Jane McPelim, 24, Dennistoun, Home Alone

Gregor Risk, 25, Tradeston, Die Hard

2. Eva Hitomi, 20, Shawlands, It’s a Wonderful Life

Fraser Wilkinson, 21, Woodlands, Elf

3. Siobhan Lynas, 21, West End, Bad Santa

Pepe Romanazzi, 26, Polignano a Mare, Italy, The Nightmare Before Christmas

4. Marcita Copertino, 34, Merchant City

Favourite Club? Mango

Favourite Bar? Boteco, of course!

Favourite DJ? DJ Picanha

Favourite Band? Sepultura

First Club? Kushion

What You Drinking? A strawberry mojito

Describe Your Dancing? In three words: power, fitness, alive

5. Jenna Page, 24, Manchester, The Holiday

Michelle Yuen, 25, Birmingham, Home Alone

6. Satetha Bo, 27, Merchant City, A Christmas Carol

Kunwat-Orn Bell, 24, Merchant City, Scrooged

7. Emma Jareno, 31, Hamilton, Miracle on 34th Street

8. Kimberley Reardon, 24, Blantyre, The Grinch