Andrew Goh
Google
🍽️ Dinner in São Paulo – Traditional Brazilian Cuisine 🇧🇷
Tonight, we dined at a restaurant featured in the Michelin Guide, known for its traditional Brazilian dishes. We were recommended several must-try items—but overall, the experience felt a bit underwhelming.
✨ Moqueca Capixaba de Peixe e Camarão – A classic Brazilian seafood stew with fish and prawns simmered in a tomato and annatto broth, served bubbling in a clay pot. It came with a side of rice, reminiscent of Chinese-style meals. While the presentation was inviting, the flavor lacked depth—mainly salty, but missing aromatic richness.
🥩 Costelinha de Porco Confitada, Arroz de Feijoada e Couve – Grilled pork ribs with brown rice and kale. Unfortunately, the dish was quite one-note—monotonous and not particularly flavorful.
🥟 Assorted Pastries – We started with a mix of savory pastries filled with shrimp, jerked beef, marinated vegetables, and coalho cheese drizzled with cane molasses. While visually appealing, none of them stood out as especially unique or memorable.
🧀 Fried Manioc Balls with Homemade Cheese – Decent texture and mildly satisfying, but again, nothing to rave about.
🥘 Meat Simmered for 10 Hours in a Sealed Clay Pot – Served with grilled plantain and manioc flour, this was described as a must-try. Sadly, it too fell short—tender, yes, but lacking complexity and depth of flavor.
🍷 We paired the meal with some Brazilian wine, which was pleasant, but the food overall leaned heavily on salt and lacked the layered spices or bold tastes we were hoping for. Communication was also a challenge, as the staff spoke limited English, which made ordering a bit tricky.
While it’s always great to explore local cuisine, this particular experience didn’t quite live up to expectations. Sometimes, Michelin doesn’t always mean magic ✨