Excellent cuisine, from entree to dessert! Really, a must visit if you are in the area!read more

Brazilian friends wanted to take me to a place during my visit to São Paulo that would give me a…read morechance to sample some unique Brazilian flavours and they chose Micaela, partly due to its location (walking distance from my hotel) and due to our needing a place that would be open on Monday. Neither had been here before, but both had heard good things, so they figured it would be worth a shot. How right they were! The restaurant is cute and charming inside, with a rustic sort of feel. The waiters--none of whom appear to speak English, though I cannot be sure of that since my friends handled all the interactions with staff--were friendly and helpful. The menu is extremely varied and includes many ingredients from all over Brazil, including exotic fishes from the north of the country, spices from the Amazon, and all sorts of things that none of us knew what they were. We opted to share two starters, one called Aquarelas do Brasil (after the famous song of the same name) and the other "pintxos" of tapioca and shimeji mushrooms (mushrooms wrapped in tapioca pastry and fried). The Aquarelas dish turned out to be delivered on a plate resembling a painter's palette, with four little servings of things to be spread on thin pieces of a special bread that they make in-house (each serving a different colour, thus adding to the theme evoked by the dish's name). The tapioca-wrapped mushrooms was the better-tasting of the two dishes, though we enjoyed them both very much. For the main course, I had a dish that consisted of beef, farofa, a fried noodle sort of thing on top and a tomato-and-onion salsa on the side, together with rice. It had excellent flavours, though the fried noodle-y thing on top made it a bit difficult to eat. We also had caiprinhas or caipiroskas, one of the latter made with red fruits instead of lime--there is a sizeable list of options for these cocktails on the menu--and they even gave us a taste of a special cachaça made with a Brazilian relative of the betel leaf. We really didn't need dessert after all this, but we decided to share one among the three of us, choosing one made with toasted coconut, white chocolate caramel and something called puxurí that none of us was familiar with, so one of the waiters brought some out to show us. Turns out it's a spice from northern Brazil that is redolent of cinnamon and vanilla, and they gave me a piece to use at home. The dessert was excellent, as was the rest of the meal, and the price was pretty reasonable given all that we had ordered (R$140 each).

The food is amazing here. Definitely get the Galhinado. That chicken and rice dish was the…read morehighlight of my meals there. The chicken was cooked perfectly and had a smokey flavor that was very pleasant. The dessert with cupuazu was really good too.. reminded me of a combination of butterscotch and dried longan fruit.

This is a very good spaniard restaurant. Went on a Sunday and was very pleased with the food, the…read moreambiance and the prices. This is now our favorite Spanish restaurant in SP. only reason they didn't get the 5 stars is they were out of crema catalana

I just had a really good meal at Sancho. I started with a couple of croquettes which were good and…read moreI washed it down with an Estrella cerveja. The main meal was a Chorizo steak which was cooked to perfection and complemented nicely with a cheesy rice, like risotto but not quite. All very flavorful and I again washed it down with another Estrella chopp.

We had good drinks and food at Sancho. The tapas flavors on par with Madrid and include several…read morelocal Brazilian food versions of tapas. We were fortunate we arrived before the evening rush otherwise we would be waiting. Menus were in portuguese but the translation app did the job. No issue ordering several rounds of tapas and the staff adds or clears the plates promptly. The bar itself has the appearance of cellar bar from Spain, lots of wood. Very relaxed seating for any size group.

Great menu selection in a highly competitive neighborhood of Itiam. I ordered Loma Salitido which…read morewas one of the best version of this dish. The Papaya Custard was also perfectly prepared. Great location and more resonreasonable than many other restaurant choices in the area. Our server Miton was awesome.

Don Mariano is a decent value for money dinner spot for Itaim. The neighborhood is notoriously…read morepricey, but you can fill yourself up on the Spanish tortillas here for a reasonable price. As far as empanadas go, while the fillings are tasty, the portions are small, and I have to eat a bunch to get full. The menu is pretty long, and the place seems to have a bit of an identity crisis in terms of decor, but the waiters can usually make good recommendations. We've particularly enjoyed shrimp entrees and I seem to remember a good looking rack of lamb or ribs.

Food: 3 stars, Drink: 5 stars!…read more A friend and I split the cheese/jamon plate, pan tomate & pulpo with potatoes. Spanish ham and cheese came with a little side of green olives and was tasty, although not cheap at R$74. Pan tomate was a little bit strange -- or at least not what I'm used to. It came on a thick cut baguette and had a generous sprinkling of browned (and cooled) minced garlic on top. Anyway, it was fine. The Pulpo came on a bed of sliced potatoes and was generously seasoned with paprika, salt and olive oil. The salt had just been sprinkled over the top so it required some redistribution. Flavor was great, although the octopus itself was a bit on the chewy side. Red sangria was AWESOME! It comes in a big pitcher with plenty of chopped fruit. I may have had too much fun picking out the juicy bits from my sangria glass and spilling drops of red wine all over myself. Whoops. As a sidenote, the bathrooms are ALL the way in the back behind the retaining wall, which is not obvious when you walk in. All in all, a good meal!

An authentic Spanish tapas bar on the corner of a street in Brooklin, Maripili is a small venue…read morethat fills up quickly; it's not open on Sunday nights. The food here tastes like something you might find in Madrid. The ambiance is interesting; they're apparently trying to create a household environment in each corner of this small saloon that holds fifteen tables. The service here is wonderful!

I have mixed feelings about Maripili, this place is tiny, like other people have mentioned, tables…read moreare tiny as well, so don't rush up and order everything at once because it will just not fit on your table. Price is reasonable but there were many technical errors when we came in to dine. What we'd ordered: Jamón Iberico - 18 months cure Decent quality jamón but slicing was off, instead of delicate shavings, we got some jamón chunks, some a bit chewy. Sobrasada - spicy red bell peppers patê Good but wouldn't order it again. Duelos y Quebrantos - jamón, bacon, chorizo, eggs Very good, this is what my dream of a sloppy breakfast is. Filled with my favourite parts of pork, scrambled eggs, but not overly greasy. Gambas al Ajillo - sautéed shrimp with garlic and spices TERRIBLE! Shrimp were tiny and not devained, so it was a bit sandy and there were no season to it. Just awful. Jamón com Melon - jamón with melon Very good! Took me to memory lane during Christmas times, spending with family, relatives, having good laughs, people having a great time. Melon was sweet and the counter balance of the jamón saltiness just enhances overall taste and experience of eating melon. Esgarret - red bell peppers, salted cod, EVOO, garlic TERRIBLE#2! Red bell peppers were tender and full of flavour, on the other hand, it was filled with a bunch of raw garlic chunks that had the same color as the cod! Not only they were pungent, it stole and killed my taste buds! Some other cons, the parking situation sucks and service is slow as molasses! But overall, I would come back to try other tapas, drink some wine as they have wine from all over Europe and ZA. I just have to remember to ask them not to use too much garlic, since it's raw it means that is added when served.

Located right at ther corner of the quaint street of Lupércio and the bustle of Ministro Rocha…read moreAzvedo is Aragon (formerly there was another restaurant called Lupércio at this same corner) - the restaurant is brightly decorated, with Iberian / Mediterranean whites and a feel of lightness. Lunch on a Thursday was an easy affair - there were tables available and the service was good, a bit pushy at times to order soon but overall good service - there is an elaborate menu with a lot of options and a weekday lunch menu with 3 alternatives each served with a side of salad (under R$ 50). The food is fresh and well made and quite delicious and just remembering the quality of my seafood rice makes me upgrade my ranking from 3 to 4 stars ! It's not a busy place and a good place to hang with some friends and have some good food - recommended.

Last month, I went to have dinner in the Aragon, I liked it very much because the ambient is very…read morenice. I had octupus with potatos and my dessert was churros with milk caramel, delicious. I recommend this place because the price is fair, the food is good and there are some nice drinks.