Stumbled upon this place while in Sao Paulo for a business trip. This guy is super friendly and…read morehilarious! Nonetheless a hilarious moment when you run into someone look like Bin Laden. It doesn't happen often.

It is situated right next to my company's building in Sao Paulo so this is my go to place for…read morelunch. I especially love their fresh coco nut juices. My usual dosage is about 2 coconuts a day plus some other stuff. We watched World Cup Brazil vs Cameroon here with a few friends and co-workers. It was a great time. Love the casual setting and reasonable pricing.

Meu bar favorito en Vila Madalena! It looks like a second…read morehand bookstore on the inside with authors like Bukowski and pictures of young Marlon Brando, drawing rad (but surprisingly not pretentious) people from all over Sao Paulo. Any given night of the week the whole bar/restaurant has people spilled out onto the street with buckets of ice cold original by their side. But don't let the crowd discourage you if you've come for a bite. They can always find seating for you inside after a few minutes. Friday nights are my favorite because they have a guy walking around with huge tray of fresh pastel. They taste amazing. Especially after that second caipirinha.

Mercearia is a cheap local dive bar with a great - and LARGE - crowd. The place is so popular with…read morethe locals that it's packed every night, and people just end up overflowing to the streets (and blocking traffic, but that's beside the point). It's a great place to chill out with some friends, or other local Brazilians in the area :)

Brazilian-Afro band with R$11 cover. The drinks are reasonable and the music is lovely.read more

More to it than meets the eye. When you first walk in, it's…read morea teeny tiny place. Then you walk around the corner and your suddenly up on a balcony with a huge floor (with its own bar in there). We went there with low expectations. The place turned out to be great. They had a superb 80s band playing some great hits for the night. The waitresses were also in top of their game and keep the caprinhas flowing. Their 'system' was a bit weird. When you enter they require to see your ID. They then enter you into a system and assign you a swipe card. You need the swipe card to buy things. No cash is exchanged until you are leaving the bar. At that point you go to a cashier. Everyone must hand I their card and pay the fee (pro tip: if you are a couple, put some drinks on each card, as otherwise you will be stuck with an admission fee on the zero balance card), then you get a token to leave, which is carefully examined by the bouncers. Strange, but pleasantly surprised by the night.

This is a great spot to watch a soccer match and grab some higher end bar food. I had the chefs…read moreburger and it was delicious - the cheese gooey so it fell apart pretty quickly. It was hard to find a spot to sit so take a lap and you will probably find something. They cleaned up really quickly.

I had a feijoada lite for lunch here on a Sunday. Service was fast and the food was really good…read more They also have a full feijoada and other typical Brazilian dishes here. I couldn't finish it so I had the leftovers packed. Despite not speaking English, they managed to do a good job with service. The ambience is sort of hole-in-the-wall and the interior is very very dated. The only problem I had was that they do not have AC and it was kinda hot. Perhaps it is better for dinner. Card payments are accepted here.

Now, it is important to say that is a very local bar, for me it was a unique experience and will…read morealways be so. Good homemade taste, but mostly simple site and nothing luxurious. You could easily overlook this low-key boteco, unless it's a Saturday afternoon, and you are looking somewhere that there is no crowds spill out the door around. Be prepared to wait for a table outside, or head inside to grab a table in a space adorned with football team strips. Don't miss the famed baião de dois - a north-eastern buttery rice dish studded with jerky... Again, be careful with your "bar environment" expectation. :D

This was our favourite meal of the trip and we had some amazing ones. We were famished and so…read moreordered a lot of food, which was much more than we could handle. We ordered: -Guacamole with banana chips: this was a nice appy to start the meal, coming with very nicely seasoned guac and dehydrated banana chips. Great way to start the meal. Large portion. -Two different types of vegan quiche that were both decadent, rich and well-spiced. Great creamy texture and quite filling -Black risotto - one of the best risottos I've ever had. Very creamy, with lots of vegan mozzarella, mushrooms, pumpkin seeds, and plenty of microgreens on top. Absolutely divine. -Baião de dois (vegan). I hadn't tried one of these before, and man was it incredible. The main dish was a rice-based dish with vegan sausage, firm tofu, and veggies with a very complex flavour and wonderful textures. On the side was an incredible garlic-sauteed kale, fried banana, and a sort of polenta-like mash with hearts of palm/jackfruit(? - look up) that was sensational. Our server spoke no English, so we communicated via Google Translate. He was so kind, hospitable and friendly--told us he loved serving us at the end. Can't say enough good things about this place. You must try out Banana Verde.

Honestly, this place would be 5 stars if it wasn't for the SERVICE. I absolutely hate to identify…read morepeople but the older bald man who was our server was so nonchalant and absolutely rude. Not like outwardly aggressive type of rude but the kind of rude where he interacts like he couldn't give a damn about the table, the order, or his guests. I do not speak Portuguese but I try. I try so hard to speak Portuguese to a basic level, enough to order. He wouldn't even try to help me out. I know he didn't speak English (not his problem at all) but usually, I even asked for "agua" and he acted as if he couldn't understand me. I resorted to just pointing to items on the menu (which is fine as well) but then he acted like he could barely lean over to see/read which item I was pointing to or like having to come closer to read what I was pointing at was annoying for him. Honestly, we were so excited to come there and he just lets the air out of the room with his demeanor. One thing that wasn't his fault, the restaurant did not have NUMEROUS items that was on the menu. We ordered various items and multiple people had to select their second and third choices. Sounds small but again, when you don't speak the language (but trying your best), having to pick two and three times on the fly is not a nice experience. Food and drink - 5 Stars Ambiance- 5 Stars Service- 1