Apologies for the separate text from the main pictures. For some reason Reddit wont let me do both in the same post.
I was in Sao Paulo for the Formula 1 race this past weekend and had the opportunity to have a late lunch last week at this popular eatery (currently #27 on the World 50 Best list).
Reservation system:
I had a difficult time making a reservation at this restaurant as a foreigner. The difficulty is not in the availability, because it is in fact quite available. It is the fact that the reservation system they use requires a 100R$ deposit per person and it does not accept foreign credit cards. If you are Brazilian or have local Brazilian friends who can book it for you then I doubt you will have any problems.
I tried contacting them via WhatsApp as suggested in an earlier thread, but this was also frustrating as they do not really respond to it. By the time they do respond or you do, you usually have to start all over again from the beginning. I do not recommend WhatsApp to reserve with them. In the end, I had my hotel concierge make the reservation and even then, they had to run around in circles to get it booked for me. The next time I will probably just go between 3:00-3:30pm as a walk-up and wait. It is usually less busy at that time from Monday-Thursday. Keep in mind that “less busy” doesn’t mean “not busy”. All tables were full and there was still a small line up even at that time of day.
CAVEAT: The day before my arrival in Brazil, the wording on the reservation system about not accepting foreign credits cards had been removed. I tried to reserve but my cards still did not work. That said, by the time you try to book it may work for you.
We had the 8-course tasting menu for 290R$ per person (~50$USD), which is really decent pricing in North America, though I know many locals do find it overpriced. We did not order the wine pairing which was 210R$ per person.
The menu was split into 8 courses as follows:
Sabores do Interior – consisting of five appetizers
Comendo Comasmãos – consisting of three bites and consommé.
Porco Cru – raw dish
Porco + Camarão – stuffed pasta/dumpling dish with shrimp
Memoria Afetiva – corn dish
Porco Sanzé – main dish of signature 6-hr roast pork and sides
Sobremesa – Dessert
Docinho + Café – Mignardises and coffee.
Favourite dishes:
Pork tartar from the first course, with yogurt, cururu & radish served on a crisp. Light, flavourful and full of texture
Mortadella from the first course. It was served with bread and burnt butter that I didn’t care for but I am a sucker for house charcuterie.
Pork milanesa on sweet potato bread from the second course. This little bite of deep fried milanesa on squishy sweet potato bread was savoury and a little sweet from the bread. Perfectly cooked.
Aged pork loin carpaccio with fermented mustard and capers served with a chicharron from the third course. Delicate and light pork flavor complemented really well with the slightly acid mustard and capers. Matched well with the crunchy chicharron as a vessel.
Not so favourite:
Stuffed pasta of sausage and shrimp in vegetable broth from the fourth course. To be fair, my wife really liked this dish. I didn’t care for it. Something about the texture of the pasta/dumpling skin was off and I found the flavour of the sausage/shrimp farce flat and heavy.
Signature 6-hr roast pork Sanzé of the main course. If you are going to call something your main course and signature dish, it better be amazing. Unfortunately, it was utterly disappointing. While the skin was crispy and delicious, the meat was very dry and very tough. We really wanted to like it because it does look quite good but we could only eat 2 out of the four pieces. The pork & sweetbread sausage has decent flavour but it was also a little on the dry side. The sides were mostly ok, but in the end they were just sides.
Overall:
Most of the other dishes ranged from good to pretty good though nothing else wowed. Would I come back for the food? The pork Sanzé disappointment knocked off a lot off points for me but in the end, I still liked it very much as there are a lot of good things going on in the other dishes. A different visit would have me for certain skipping the tasting and going straight à la carte.
Service wise everything was perfectly fine. There were only a couple of English speaking waiters to help describe the dishes to us and they were nice though perhaps busy. All the wait staff promptly cleared the dirty dishes and were unobtrusive. Service wasn’t amazing and perhaps the language barrier had something to do with that but probably more due to the fact that it isn’t that “type” of restaurant. Is it really fine dining? Not really and it doesn’t pretend to be. It is maybe more upscale casual dining, with a lot of local pub/bar vibes, riding on a lot of street cred in the foodie community.
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Apologies for the separate text from the main pictures. For some reason Reddit wont let me do both in the same post.
I was in Sao Paulo for the Formula 1 race this past weekend and had the opportunity to have a late lunch last week at this popular eatery (currently #27 on the World 50 Best list).
Reservation system:
I had a difficult time making a reservation at this restaurant as a foreigner. The difficulty is not in the availability, because it is in fact quite available. It is the fact that the reservation system they use requires a 100R$ deposit per person and it does not accept foreign credit cards. If you are Brazilian or have local Brazilian friends who can book it for you then I doubt you will have any problems.
I tried contacting them via WhatsApp as suggested in an earlier thread, but this was also frustrating as they do not really respond to it. By the time they do respond or you do, you usually have to start all over again from the beginning. I do not recommend WhatsApp to reserve with them. In the end, I had my hotel concierge make the reservation and even then, they had to run around in circles to get it booked for me. The next time I will probably just go between 3:00-3:30pm as a walk-up and wait. It is usually less busy at that time from Monday-Thursday. Keep in mind that “less busy” doesn’t mean “not busy”. All tables were full and there was still a small line up even at that time of day.
CAVEAT: The day before my arrival in Brazil, the wording on the reservation system about not accepting foreign credits cards had been removed. I tried to reserve but my cards still did not work. That said, by the time you try to book it may work for you.
We had the 8-course tasting menu for 290R$ per person (~50$USD), which is really decent pricing in North America, though I know many locals do find it overpriced. We did not order the wine pairing which was 210R$ per person.
The menu was split into 8 courses as follows:
Sabores do Interior – consisting of five appetizers
Comendo Comasmãos – consisting of three bites and consommé.
Porco Cru – raw dish
Porco + Camarão – stuffed pasta/dumpling dish with shrimp
Memoria Afetiva – corn dish
Porco Sanzé – main dish of signature 6-hr roast pork and sides
Sobremesa – Dessert
Docinho + Café – Mignardises and coffee.
Favourite dishes:
Pork tartar from the first course, with yogurt, cururu & radish served on a crisp. Light, flavourful and full of texture
Mortadella from the first course. It was served with bread and burnt butter that I didn’t care for but I am a sucker for house charcuterie.
Pork milanesa on sweet potato bread from the second course. This little bite of deep fried milanesa on squishy sweet potato bread was savoury and a little sweet from the bread. Perfectly cooked.
Aged pork loin carpaccio with fermented mustard and capers served with a chicharron from the third course. Delicate and light pork flavor complemented really well with the slightly acid mustard and capers. Matched well with the crunchy chicharron as a vessel.
Not so favourite:
Stuffed pasta of sausage and shrimp in vegetable broth from the fourth course. To be fair, my wife really liked this dish. I didn’t care for it. Something about the texture of the pasta/dumpling skin was off and I found the flavour of the sausage/shrimp farce flat and heavy.
Signature 6-hr roast pork Sanzé of the main course. If you are going to call something your main course and signature dish, it better be amazing. Unfortunately, it was utterly disappointing. While the skin was crispy and delicious, the meat was very dry and very tough. We really wanted to like it because it does look quite good but we could only eat 2 out of the four pieces. The pork & sweetbread sausage has decent flavour but it was also a little on the dry side. The sides were mostly ok, but in the end they were just sides.
Overall:
Most of the other dishes ranged from good to pretty good though nothing else wowed. Would I come back for the food? The pork Sanzé disappointment knocked off a lot off points for me but in the end, I still liked it very much as there are a lot of good things going on in the other dishes. A different visit would have me for certain skipping the tasting and going straight à la carte.
Service wise everything was perfectly fine. There were only a couple of English speaking waiters to help describe the dishes to us and they were nice though perhaps busy. All the wait staff promptly cleared the dirty dishes and were unobtrusive. Service wasn’t amazing and perhaps the language barrier had something to do with that but probably more due to the fact that it isn’t that “type” of restaurant. Is it really fine dining? Not really and it doesn’t pretend to be. It is maybe more upscale casual dining, with a lot of local pub/bar vibes, riding on a lot of street cred in the foodie community.