Best Restaurants in São Paulo, Brazil

Since we weren’t paying rent in Brazil, we spent all our money on food. I don’t regret it. So many delicious restaurants to visit… Here’s a small compilation of where we ate.

Outback Steakhouse

This was the first. It was Melissa’s choice and we landed in Brazil and headed straight there. It’s very popular in Brazil, so you can find it everywhere. Outback Steakhouse is an Australian-themed restaurant (with American style food), and we love it. What’s great for us is that soft drinks and iced tea have free refills so we can spend hours and hours just talking and drinking. Everywhere in Brazil.

Salad Days

This was our table at Salad Days (and our groups) – not very comfortable, but the food was good!

This is a vegan burger place. Melissa, João, and my mom were all really scared, not feeling like it but once they took a bite of what they ordered, they fell in love. Amazing burgers! The downside is that it’s super small. When we went, it was a chilly night and we didn’t fit inside (we were in 10 people) so we had to eat at the curb. It was still worth it. The dessert, though, wasn’t good. In São Paulo.

Tia Lena

This is another restaurant we went back to over and over again. Amazing food, the fish dishes are delicious. I liked a dish of fish cooked in cream. Their chilly sauce is amazing, but sometimes it’s super spicy and sometimes it isn’t. Put a little and try first. In Itanhaém, São Paulo.

Havana Café

Have you tried alfajor yet? If you haven’t, you owe it to yourself. Havana makes delicious alfajor and dulce de leche. Their coffee drinks all come with a little of dulce de leche. Yum… 2 years ago there was none of the cafés around, but we saw it everywhere, including the airports. Everywhere in Brazil.

Quilo

One of the Minas Gerais cuisine restaurants we went to

This isn’t actually the name of a restaurant, but the style of many restaurants in Brazil. Quilo means kilo and it designates the restaurants where you serve yourself buffet style and weight your plate: you pay for the weight of your food. There are many styles, from Brazilian cuisine to Japanese food, so you can choose whatever you like and eat as much as you want to. I love them, as they have enough options to make everyone happy and the food is usually pretty good! Everywhere in Brazil.

Churrascaria

This is another designation for another kind of restaurant. Churrascaria, though, serves meat. Brazilian barbecue, to be more accurate. They usually have a salad buffet and the waiters come around bringing a spit with the meat offering it to everyone. If you want it, they slice a bit for you.

There are many great Churrascarias, but there are also pretty bad ones. We went to a really good one, but we also went to a really bad one. It’s really luck. Sometimes you have such a great meal that you want to repeat, so you go to the same Churrascaria and end up with a crappy meal instead. Happens. It’s all over Brazil.

Meats

This was the Big Apple burger, with horseradish and honey sauce – delicious!

We found this one by accident and I’m glad we did. Another burger place, and so delicious we had it twice. The burgers are really good, the milkshakes are delicious and the service is pretty good. The pink lemonade is the best one ever. In São Paulo.

Mito

Can one ever get enough burgers? This one was great!

I know I’m getting repetitive, but this one is also a burger place. It’s a 50’s themed burger place and it’s delicious! The service was also pretty good and we had a great time. The only downside to this one was that the tables are small (not too small, they fit 6 adults nicely) so we had to split up into 2 tables. Still worth the visit. In São Paulo.

Bakeries

Simpler, yet filling and delicious sandwiches – but the best part is the juice!

Brazilian bakeries are called Padaria and there are many kinds of padarias, from the small ones that sell only a few types of bread and huge ones, selling bread, having restaurants and everything you can imagine. I recommend you find a clean looking bakery and have a meal there: a nice sandwich and a fresh fruit juice. Just love. All around Brazil.

La Gelatteria

All of my 3 flavors were sorbets and they were delicious!

Starting with the ice cream section, this one we tried because we arrived a bit too early at a friend’s house. It’s good ice cream, the sorbets were just yum but nothing exceptional. João is being really annoying here beside me saying that I need to tell you they have ice cream for dogs. They do. They offer stamp cards, and every time you get an ice cream, you get a stamp. In a few stamps (9 if I recall properly) you get one free gelato. In São Paulo.

Frida&Mina

Great ice cream served cones made fresh at the store. The waffle cones are the best part. The lines are crazy long and there are people all around the store (and outside too). There are many unique flavors, worth trying. In São Paulo.

Bacio di Latte

Doce de leite (milk caramel) and coffee ice cream – delicious!

The last of the ice creams, this one is pretty famous and it’s everywhere. Good ice cream, lots of unique flavors but the service was super bad. We felt like we were asking for a huge favor when we were ordering. Maybe we were just unlucky but it put us off of it. Everywhere in Brazil.

Nobori Sushi

The sushi & sashimi boat – but my favorite part of the meal was the tempura!

We went there only once but it was an all you can eat serviced restaurant (kind of a Churrascaria, but of Japanese food). Most of the food was delicious and you really do eat a lot there. The service started off bad, but by the end of our meal, it had become better. It’s located in Mogi das Cruzes, in São Paulo.

Asahi 

An all-you-can-eat buffet that you pay by the weight of your food. Pretty nice Japanese food, probably one of the cheapest (yet very decent) places we’ve been to. They even have a kids room with toys and camera, so you can watch your kids while you eat. We went there loads of times and it is good. In Itanhaém, São Paulo.

There are many other places we’ve been to, of course, but they weren’t worth mentioning or we don’t really remember them.

Where is your favorite restaurant?