Mocotó

Mocotó began in 1973 as a casa do norte opened by José de Almeida, known as Seu Zé, who was born in Mulungu in Pernambuco in 1938. His son, chef Rodrigo Oliveira, has run the restaurant for more than 20 years and turned it into one of the most respected kitchens in the city without losing its neighbourhood character. The original restaurant is still in Vila Medeiros, in São Paulo's north zone, and the chef told its story in his book Mocotó: o pai, o filho e o restaurante.

The cooking draws on the family's roots in Pernambuco. The classics served across the group include dadinhos de tapioca, crispy tapioca and cheese bites, baião de dois, rice and beans with coalho cheese, sausage, bacon and jerked beef, and torresmo, fried pork belly. At Vila Medeiros the menu also lists the caldo de mocotó, a cow's foot soup made to a recipe around 50 years old, and mocofava, the same soup combined with butter beans. Specialities include carne de sol grilled over coals, oxtail braised in dark beer and roasted pirarucu from the Amazon. Finish with tapioca pudding with coconut milk or ice creams in flavours such as rapadura and cashew. The bar serves caipirinhas made with fruit or special ingredients such as cashew and rapadura syrup, as well as aged cachaça shots, and the menu is available in English on the restaurant's website, which helps visitors navigate the regional names. Rodrigo Oliveira runs the kitchen with sous-chef Gilberto Silva.

The restaurant has collected recognition at home and abroad. It holds a Michelin Bib Gourmand, it was ranked on the extended Latin America's Best Restaurants list in 2023, and in 2019 the World Restaurant Awards named it the best restaurant in the world in the no-reservations category. Today, however, it does take bookings through its website, which makes planning a visit easier.

The Vila Medeiros restaurant is open Monday to Thursday from 12:00 to 22:00, Friday until 23:00, Saturday from 11:30 to 23:00, and Sunday and holidays from 11:30 to 17:00. If you cannot make the journey north, the family also runs branches in Vila Leopoldina and Vila Clementino, a café in the Mercado de Pinheiros and Balaio IMS on Avenida Paulista, but the original has the most atmosphere.

Vila Medeiros is in the north zone of the city, so allow time for the journey and treat the meal as an outing in itself. Mocotó suits families, groups and anyone wanting honest Brazilian food at moderate prices, and booking ahead is sensible at weekends.