Tordesilhas restaurant: the best Brazilian food in São Paulo

Brazilian food is very much in vogue these days, and new restaurants specializing in it are popping up all over São Paulo. But none of them can beat Tordesilhas, which I consider the city's best in that specialty. It's not as hip as competitor Brasil a Gosto. And it doesn't have a pretty and young chef, like Capim Santo does (Morena Leite is a media darling). But it does have very serious food.

The restaurant is located in a cute little house on Bela Cintra street, past Avenida Paulista. The tables in the glassed-in courtyard at the back are absolutely charming, and to get to them you'll pass by a gorgeous tableau of Brazilian fruits in a lavish display.

Mara Salles, the chef-owner, studies gastronomy and teaches it, too. She knows more than anyone I know about Brazilian cuisines (yes, in the plural!). She posts on the wall her 10 commandments, which is fun, and I especially agree with this one:

"You shall not covet another's cuisine, demanding from Brazilian dishes that they bear the complexity of the French cuisine, the minimalism of the Asian cuisines or the sophistication of the New York restaurants".

Amen.

I'll quote you another one of her commandments, this one a bit radical:

"You shall not speak the holy name of Brazilian dishes in vain: a moqueca is a moqueca and should always be served in a ceramic crock, a feijoada that doesn't come in a ceramic bowl is not a feijoada, and so on".

I went with friends and we ordered a few of the alguidares - side dishes, served in small bowls. One contained paçoca - ground jerk beef with manioc flour, pumpkin purée, purée of banana da terra (plantain), tutu de feijão (black bean paste, like refried beans). All excellent and as hearty as any main course. The house pimentas (hot peppers) were delicious - a few drops will take you a long way.

We also ordered queijo coalho with melaço, a typical Northeastern beach snack. Essentially, charred cubes of a salty white cheese with a drizzle of sugarcane molasses. Nice, but not any nicer than the original, that can be had for a buck at any beach in Pernambuco state.

Then came the pato no tucupi, a typical dish of the Northern region, and especially of Belém, the capital of Pará state. The duck is cooked in a slightly gooey liquid that contains julienned jambu, a leaf that numbs the mouth and makes the tongle tingle. This dish is eaten with farinha d'água, a variant of farinha de mandioca that is very popular in the North. Very white and very grainy and definitely an acquired taste.

I love this dish, but... it's not for everyone and could be easily described as ultra-exotic specialty for brave palates. I liked it more, in fact, that the other main course ordered: filhote fish with a velvety banana purée.

The desserts were nice but all a bit too sweet. There's one with a cryptic name: Manezinho Araújo. This is it, below - flan and babanas under a dome of meringue. A better bet is the trio of ice creams, which are bought from a famous ice cream shop in Belém do Pará, Sorvetes Cairu.

Tordesilhas: rua Bela Cintra, 465, São Paulo, tel. (55-11) 3107-7444

Restaurants serving Brazilian food in São Paulo

Brazil is in vogue in Brazil. Ever since Europeans and Americans fell in love with all things Brazilian, from caipirinhas and bossa nova to Gisele and her Havaianas flip flops, Brazilians began to see their country with new eyes. With all the new restaurants in São Paulo proudly serving banana, black bean or coconut dishes, it’s hard to believe that up until recently, native products, like cachaça (sugarcane spirit), goiabada (guava sweet) and rapadura (hardened sugarcane molasses) were shunned by top chefs. Brazilians always enjoyed their local food at home or at their favourite pub, but fine dining had to be French or Italian-based. The more imported ingredients like saffron, funghi and aspargus, the better.
The first to challenge this view were French chefs who moved to Rio in the 80’s. Laurent Suaudeau and Claude Troisgros, amazed by the exotic fruits and vegetables, introduced them into their classical French cuisine. Now, a new generation of chefs in São Paulo is following their lead, and finding sophisticated ways of cooking with Brazilian ingredients that were once considered too pedestrian.

Shortly after opening D.O.M., in 2000, Alex Atala began pairing black beans with foie gras, and giving fresh fishes from the Amazon a place of honour on his menu.

Since then the trend picked up, with the recent opening of restaurants where local takes preference over imports. At the charming Maní (pictured above), model-turned-chef Helena Rizzo and her partner Daniel Redondo (ex-Celler de Can Roca) give the humble manioc royal treatment, with a drizzle of truffle oil. A sparkly cachaça jelly and Brazil nut shavings crown her foie gras terrine.

More food expert than chef, Ana Luiza Trajano opened early in 2006 Brasil a Gosto (pictured below, its bar area) – a high-design place on a leafy, secluded street - after a long exploratory voyage throughout the country to research regional recipes and customs.


She serves lighter, up-to-date renderings of traditional dishes such as fish stew (moqueca) with rice and also her own combinations of native ingredients, such as tucunaré, an Amazonian fish, served with manioc. And a starter of queijo coalho, a white cheese that is charred on the outside, commonly eaten as a snack at the beaches of the Northeast Region (Nordeste).




At Capim Santo, in the same Jardins district, young chef Morena Leite, from Bahia state, is turning fruits like jabuticaba and pitanga into sauces, and baking ritzier versions of the coconut and guava sweets of her childhood.

Now there are even newer restaurants specializing in Brazilian food. Dalva e Dito, for one, which I described in detail here. And soon-to-open Chafariz.

Brasil a Gosto: Rua Professor Azevedo do Amaral, 70, tel. 55-11-3086-3565, Capim Santo: Al. Ministro Rocha Azevedo, 471, tel. 55-11-3068-8486 D.O.M.: Rua Barão de Capanema, 549, tel. 55-11-3088-0761 Maní: Rua Joaquim Antunes, 210, tel. 55-11-3085-4148