24 hours in São Paulo
More than just the financial centre of Brazil, São Paulo is a hotspot of culture, from its vibrant food scene to its hedonistic nightlife, says food writer
Cash in on Brazil’s finance capital.
10am THE DAILY GRIND Brazil is the world’s largest producer of coffee, so you’re going to encounter some top brews. The crème de la crème is at
Coffee Lab (coffeelab.com.br) in Pinheiros, which serves nine coffee degustations.
11.30am TO MARKET, TO MARKET With your new-found energy, tackle the
Municipal Market (oportaldomercadao.com. br) in the historic centre of the city. You’ll find a trove of tropical fruits (jaboticaba anyone?) as well as São Paulo’s best street food. Try the pastel, a deep-fried pastry stuffed with Catupiry cream cheese, or the market’s legendary (and huge) mortadella sandwich.
1.30pm LOCAL HERO Locals will insist you visit Mocotó (mocoto. com.br), a gastronomic institution that has been serving traditional north-eastern Brazilian cuisine since 1974. Specialties include tapioca cheese cubes, homemade pork sausage flambéed in cachaça, and the ribbons of fried cassava.
3pm OFF THE WALL Walk off lunch with a tour of São Paulo’s best street art, starting at Beco do Batman, an alleyway in Vila Madalena covered in psychedelic and Cubism-inspired murals. The area is home to galleries and boutiques, too, making it the perfect gift-buying spot.
5.30pm HIGH SPIRITS A great place to get acquainted with Brazil’s national drink, the caipirinha, is Veloso Bar (velosobar.com.br) in Vila Mariana. They pour the cachaça a little more liberally than we do; best to mop it up with coxinhas, the local deep-fried chicken croquettes.
9pm EAT THE AMAZON São Paulo is home to tattooed kitchen- rockstar Alex Atala. His flagship restaurant,
DOM (domrestaurante.com.br), showcases the best of indigenous ingredients, from palm hearts to Amazonian ants. If you can’t nab a reservation, try his other exceptional venues, Açougue Central, Riviera or Dalva e Dito. (Paulistanos eat late, so expect an empty dining room if you arrive before nine.)
11.30pm RHYTHM OF THE NIGHT On Friday and Saturday nights, the city comes alive with the sound of Afro-Brazilian samba rhythms. The best vibes can be found at Ó do Borogodó (facebook.com/ odoborogodobar), which boasts a weekly line-up of professional samba musicians as well as a seriously sweaty dance crowd that won’t disperse until the sun comes up.