Tempero das Gerais is a small, semi-fancy Brazilian restaurant where I got my first taste of…read moreauthentic Brazilian food. I was not disappointed! Let me just say as a disclaimer that while I was in São Paulo, I was basically just following the herd because I don't know Portuguese and I did not know anything about Brazilian food and culture prior to my trip. While dining here, my friend's mom, aunty, uncle, and cousin did all the ordering so I unfortunately don't know what most of the dishes were called in Portuguese.
We got to the restaurant around 7:30pm on a Thursday. Parking is either street or valet in front of the restaurant, so plan ahead and come early if you want to find a spot on the street. Although we had a reservation for a party of 6 the restaurant was not too crowded and felt spacious. We were promptly greeted and were able to order drinks. Like everywhere else I went in Sao Paulo, getting plain old tap water is NOT an option...if you ask for water you'll get a bottle of water and a glass! My friend's grandpa ordered a caipirinha...which I had never seen or tried before. Since he only wanted a little bit, he gave me the rest of his, and after that I was hooked! I love how much lime they use (it seemed like 1/2 a lime was in that tiny glass) and how smooth the drink was!
Shortly after we received our drinks, the food started coming. Although I couldn't understand anything on the menu, it was quite long with many different selections available. I hadn't realized that they ordered so many dishes, but I was excited to try a bit of everything!
For appetizers, we started off with these breaded/fried poppers-type bites that were either filled with meat or cheese. The poppers were made out of a Brazilian ingredient (I think its from a vegetable root) and were perfectly crispy on the outside and soft on the inside! I tried one of each and had to restrain myself from eating more so that I could save room to try more of the main dishes.
Then, one by one, the dinner dishes started coming. We ordered so many different things, it felt like constant serving for 10 minutes! Of course, we started off with rice (Brazilian rice, which has a hint of garlic, is long grain, and not sticky), white beans, and veggies (chopped kale and a mash made out of the same root the poppers were made of). First came okra and chicken in a somewhat stew-ish form. This was great...the okra was soft and the chicken tender! Next came deep fried ham hocks with fried plantain and a white bean/bread crumb mixture. I'm used to ham hocks in soups, but this was my first time eating it deep fried. And it was so good, definitely one of my favorites! The meat was not tough; even though it was deep fried, it had the texture of pulled pork on the inside. After these came Brazilian steak frites and deep fried pork rinds with a fried egg and more bean/breadcrumb mixture. The steak was good, and this was my first time trying Brazilian beef! The pork rinds were tasty, but very hard and crunchy which made it a little difficult to eat.
Now the servings for each of these dishes was quite large, and even though we did this meal family style with six people, we ended up very full and with a ton of leftovers! There was a dessert menu available, but I was unfortunately too full to try anything. Obrigada, Tempero das Gerais, for giving me my first taste of Brazilian cuisine!
TL;DR - large menu selection, large portions, and deep fried ham hocks!
