Best Brazilian Cuisine Restaurants in São Paulo
As the largest and most populated city in Brazil, São Paulo has a variety of restaurants offering typical foods from different regions of the country. In this article, we will see what are the best places to try some of the most diverse flavors of Brazilian food.
Northern cuisine
Representing typical food of Northern Brazil is the restaurant "Amazônia". Despite its name, the menu has dishes from the state of Pará, which is where the owner originates from. Ingredients such as the fruit cupuaçu, the root mandioca and the Brazil nut castanha-do-pará are used throughout the northern region. Most dishes are native in origin, with names like Tacacá, a type of soup made with wild manioc and duck in tucupi, which is a duck broth cooked with wild manioc.
Another restaurant that serves Northern dishes is “Tordesilhas”. There are some tasty options like the Bobó de camarão, which is a meal with shrimp in manioc cream with coconut milk and dendêoil which comes from the fruit of the African Oil Palm
Northeastern cuisine
When it comes to Northeastern food, the restaurant “Mocotó” is the best according to those that live in São Paulo. The restaurant offers spicy foods, which is a characteristic of most of the dishes from Northeastern states. Some examples are escondidinho de carne seca which is a mixture of manioc puree and dried meat, baião-de-dois, which is a mixture of beans, rice and a type of sausage and atolado de vaca which is a pot roast with manioc, tomatoes and olives.
Other options of restaurants that serve Northeastern food are “Amigos do Picuí" and “Andrade”. The later offers live music typical from the Northeastern region.
Southeastern cuisine
The ‘bologna’ sandwich is a typical dish of São Paulo and can be found at one of the main tourist places in the city, the municipal market, also known as “Mercadão”. Another traditional dish is the “Virado à Paulista” composed of a mixture of rice and beans, pork chop, sausage, bacon or fried pork rind, cabbage, fried egg and breaded banana, which can be found at the restaurant “Sujinho”.
The most famous Brazilian dish is “Feijoada” and is typical dish from Rio de Janeiro. Restaurant “Coutinho” is a good place to enjoy this meal, which is well served with rice, black beans, pork and cabbage.
Minas Gerais is a state that brings a larger variety of typical dishes. A restaurant known for serving food from here is “As Mineiras”. Here you can find dishes like “rabada”, which is a meal prepared with oxtail, chicken with okra and “feijão tropeiro” which is a dish made with white beans.
The last state is Espírito Santo and its gastronomy, which is mixture of European, African and native culture. “Brasil a gosto” is a restaurant that specializes in these kinds of dishes which are based mainly on seafood and fish. The most popular is “moqueca capixaba” made of fish, pepper and a lot of olive oil.
Southern cuisine
The Southern region is known for eating meat, lots of meat. It’s a tradition to have a barbecue every Sunday, but usually they have barbecues during the week as well.. In São Paulo you can find good “Churrascarias” which is what Brazilians call these special type of barbecue restaurants that serve meat. The restaurant “Rodeio” is a good option for eating a typical “churrasco”. Rodeio has been in the market for over 50 years.
Mid-Western cuisine
Mid-Western cuisine is also heavily dominated by meat, this is due to being the main region of the country for cattle production. The restaurant “Sobaria” is one of the few representatives of Midwestern cuisine in the city, bringing typical dishes of Mato Grosso do Sul. One of the most popular is a fish called “pintado” covered with urucum sauce.