Bib-Gourmand on Gourmand Syndrome

Balaio IMS

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 10:10:07 -0300

Balaio is a large straw-like basket, and the purpose of the name for the restaurant is to blend the different culinary cultures of Brazil. It’s located on the ground floor of the Instituto Moreira Salles, which houses exhibitions and a library in photography, theater for screenings and music concerns, and classrooms for courses and workshops. The restaurant comes from chef Rodrigo Oliveira, who opened this restaurant located near our hotel on Paulista avenue. He’s also well known for Mocotó, a restaurant focused on Northeast Brazilian flavors. The restaurant is well known for its cocktails, but we came for the food. We made a reservation for 12:30 PM on a Saturday a few days in advance without any issues. If you are unable to speak or understand Portuguese, they do have the menus in English.

Manioca

Wed, 11 Mar 2026 10:04:07 -0300

This Manioca location is in the JK shopping mall, where it’s surrounded by professional offices such as Amazon, Johnson & Johnson, Santander, and many more. The restaurant opens sharply at 11:30 AM local time, and at 12:00 PM, all the workers flock from their offices to this mall to eat in the food court and all the various restaurants. Manioca is a restaurant by Helena Rizzo, who also happened to own Michelin-rated Mani as well. We went to this restaurant to try because she has built a very nice reputation of having great foods.

A Casa Do Porco

Tue, 18 Jun 2024 20:36:56 -0300

A Casa do Porco (translates to House of the Pig) is a homage to pork as a whole. If you love pork as much as we do, this is a restaurant that you need to check out in Brazil. One accolade recently was that Janaína Torres was rated as “World’s Best Female Chef 2024”. The restaurant also has a Michelin green star, which means they are sustainability conscious. They control the entire food chain from farm to consumer.