WARM colours have the magic effect of building up the appetite, and you certainly feel this at Latina Restaurant in Xintiandi.

The Brazilian chef at Latina is no meatball.

The swaying gauze hanging above the windows - orange, bright green and yellow - and red brick on the floor and walls bring out the energetic, sensual, heated flavours of Latin America.

The owner, Jun Taichi - known to some as "the Meat Man" - was born and grew up in Brazil, where there is a large Japanese community.

After the success of the first Latina Restaurant on Maoming Nanlu, which has earned a reputation for serving up some of the city's most delicious meat dishes, Taichi's eye turned to fashionable Xintiandi.

If you go there in the evening, you may, as you enjoy a range of meat preparations, enjoy listening to the live Brazilian band play rhythmic Latin music.

Barbecue simply must be ordered, for this is a speciality of Brazil. It quickly becomes apparent that the chef - a native Brazilian - is no meatball. He brings to the plate some truly fragrant and terrifically tender roasted meat.

Staging a successful barbecue is meat and drink to the Brazilians, and they do it extremely well. Large pieces of pork and other meats were strung together on a long steel skewer, then roasted until it was tender in the centre but with a crisp skin outside. The pork was grilled in a big stove at the same time, and chefs turned the skewers one by one frequently.

Young waiters wearing bright floral-print shirts will walk to your table, one hand with the meat and the other with a knife, asking you whether you need more. You find that you do. Again and again, they obligingly cut generous portions of the juice-filled beef or pork for you on demand.

Looking through the menu, you find that meat appears in virtually every dish. Those poor deprived beggars, the vegetarians, you think to yourself.

Of a summer evening, you may sit outside and enjoy the delicacies and mild wind, watching the beautiful fountain in front.

The restaurant becomes a bar after dinner time, but some of that delectable meat fragrance lingers, so that the diner cannot put off a return visit for long.

Prices are moderate and buffet is available for 98 yuan ($12) per person.

Latina Restaurant

Shop One:

Add: 59 Maoming Lu (6472-2718)

Shop Two:

Add: Lane 169 Taicang Lu in Xintiandi Plaza (6320-3566)