EAT AND DRINK LIKE A PAULISTANO
In Brazil, coffee is so popular that Brazilians
changed the Portuguese word for breakfast
to café da manhã, which literally translates as
“morning coffee.” Brazilian coffee is typically
strong, sweet, and served in small cups. It’s
also built into the DNA of São Paulo. Seek
your morning cafezinho at long-running shops
like Cafe Floresta in the Centro Histórico
district or embrace your inner coffee snob in
Pinheiros district at Coffee Lab, where the
expansive menu educates patrons on the
many varieties of coffee grown around Brazil.
Although the city has no shortage of
pizza, sushi, or kibbeh from its immigrant
communities, Brazil’s gastronomical
revolution is all about embracing indigenous
ingredients. Thanks to Michelin-starred
restaurants like Alex Atala’s D.O.M. and
Helena Rizzo’s Mani — both in the upscale
Jardins neighborhood — leading the way, a
trip to São Paulo is an opportunity to taste the
esoteric flavors of the Amazon like jambu, an
herb known for its tongue-tingling effect.
While it’s an exciting time for Brazil’s
culinary arts, you’ll still find most Paulistanos
sticking to the traditional cuisine and its
protein-rich cornerstones of meat, beans,
and root vegetables. Not to be missed is
Brazil’s national dish — feijoada. This meaty
bean stew takes hours of preparation and
therefore, most restaurants serve it once a
week; Wednesday is the most typical day.
However, at Bolinhas, which serves some of
the most famous feijoada in the city, the dish
is served whenever the restaurant is open.
You’ll also want to try a classic churrascaria
like Barbacoa in the glitzy Itaim Bibi district,
where Brazil’s famous rodízio-style barbecue
is served by waiters carrying slabs of meat
on long sword-like skewers. If you’re not into
meat, but love the idea of Brazilian rodízio,
you can enjoy a similar experience at Bacio
del Nonno in the Vila Olimpia neighborhood.
This pizzeria offers over 70 sweet and savory
pizzas, which are served straight out of the
oven and onto the floor. All you have to do is
point to the piece that sparks your fancy.
SHOP LIKE A PAULISTANO
In São Paulo, eager shoppers will find so
much more to indulge in than bikinis and flip
flops. The city has plenty to offer fashion-
lovers from the big-name designers on
FLYWASHINGTON.COM 30 AUTUMN 2019
Oscar Freire Street in Jardins to the
boutiques of Brazilian-born designers like
João Pimenta and Fernanda Yamamoto in
Pinheiros. While there, also stop by Insecta,
a shoe brand that up-cycles vintage clothing
to create stylish and colorful shoes that are a
hundred percent sustainable.
To find the best deals in the city, make a trip
to Rua 25 de Março, or March 25th Street, in
Centro. (The unusual name commemorates
the signing of the Brazilian constitution.)
There is plenty of activity on this hilly street,
which is lined with shops selling apparel,
crafts, home goods, electronics, and just
about everything else you can think of, at
discount prices. It’s the perfect place to pull
together a last-minute outfit or to stock up on
souvenirs for friends back home.
If you find yourself in São Paulo over the
weekend, make a point to visit the Saturday
market at Praça Benedito Calixto in Pinheiros.
At this weekly flea market, and local favorite,
you never know what treasures you might
find in the jumble of jewelry, crafts, leather
goods, and antiques.
PLAY LIKE A PAULISTANO
When it comes to Brazil’s love of football (aka
soccer), the enthusiasm you see at the World
Cup is just the tip of the iceberg. And in a city
as large as São Paulo, one team is not enough.
If you’d like to catch a local game, choose
one of the city’s three rival clubs: Corinthians,
Palmeiras, and São Paulo FC. If you’re a
fervent soccer fan yourself, make sure to pay
a visit to the Museum of Football, which is
housed in the city’s oldest and still-working
stadium, Pacaembu.
If football fervor overtakes you, and you’d
like to apply your own foot to the ball, head
to one of the city’s many green spaces to join
a pick-up match. Start at Ibirapuera Park,
the largest park in the city and “lungs of São
Paulo.” Here, Paulistanos of all stripes enjoy
its endless options, including running trails,
bike rentals, volleyball pitches, skate parks,
green lawns, and more.
EMBRACE HERITAGE LIKE A
PAULISTANO
Ibirapuera Park is also a fantastic place to
discover Brazilian heritage at numerous
museums, like the Museum of Modern Art and
the Afro Brazil Museum, which documents
Brazil’s long history of slavery and its
descendants. Take a short walk from the
park to Avenida Paulista (Paulista Avenue)
to visit the São Paulo Museum of Art, locally
called MASP and home to one of the largest
collections of European art in the Southern
Hemisphere. Add yet more fun to the trip
on Sundays, when the avenue opens to
pedestrians only.
A few treasured monuments are also
worth the hike, like the Monument to the
Bandeiras, a large-scale granite sculpture by
the Italian-Brazilian sculptor Victor Brecheret
that commemorates the expeditioners who
ventured into the Brazilian interior. The
Monument to the Independence of Brazil, at
the north tip of in Parque da Independência,
marks the spot where the King Dom Pedro
I declared Brazil’s independence from
Portugal in 1822.
Other landmarks of São Paulo’s heritage can
be found throughout the city, such as the neo-
gothic Se Cathedral, located in the city center.
For something more colorful, step inside
the Nossa Senhora do Brasil. This modern
cathedral pays tribute to Brazil’s heritage with
hand-painted Portuguese tiles and a frescoed
ceiling that depicts the biological and cultural
diversity of Brazil.
CREATE LIKE A PAULISTANO
To see contemporary art in São Paulo, one only
needs to go for a walk. The city has become
one of the world’s premiere destinations for
street art and launched some of the most
famous names in the world, including Kobra,
Nina Pandolfo, and Cranio — all of whose work
can be enjoyed throughout the city.
In the bohemian neighborhood of Vila
Madalena, walk through Batman Alley, whose
colorful murals have become so popular the
city officially closed the street off to cars to
give pedestrians the freedom to linger and
pose for photos. New art alleys like Aprendiz
Alley are also establishing themselves as
major points of interest.
Although Vila Madalena is at the heart of São
Paulo’s street art scene, it’s by no means the
only hotspot. In Liberdade, find murals that
reflect the culture of the neighborhood’s
Japanese population, while in Cambuci,
you can track down the original works of
Osgemeos, a local team of twins, whose
larger-than-life murals have gained global
fame and pop up from Milan to Mumbai.