Sao Paulo Restaurants

The variety of cuisine in Sao Paulo is larger than anywhere in the country, partly due to the number of immigrants. There are many good Italian and Japanese restaurants as well as Spanish, Portuguese, Bahrain and even Thai cuisine.

You can get a decent meal at any time of the day, and many restaurants are open until 02:00. Locals often make an effort to dress up and usually go out around 22:00 at the earliest. Booking tables is not usually necessary, except at some of the more upmarket establishments.

Where to eat

A lot of the restaurants in the city can be categorised into steak and barbecue houses, pizzerias and beer gardens. The large Italian community has given rise to a huge number of pizzerias and Italian restaurants, and the quality is often excellent.

The steak and barbecue houses are popular, as the Brazilians are big meat-eaters. There are those that serve set meals from the menu or the churrascarias (all-you-can-eat) variety where the waiters wander around the tables, serving different cuts of meat.

The beer gardens are better known as drinking establishments, and the food is just an accompaniment to the large volumes of beer being served. In addition, there are some good restaurants specialising in Brazilian cuisine, offering dishes such as tutu de feijão (a bean-based recipe), crispy bacon, pork sausages and tropical fruit desserts.