Tem Umami
Tem Umami is an artisanal bakery and cafe in Sao Paulo. It’s known for its natural fermentation products, which includes special panettones and coffee. Much of the flavors are natural and not artificial, so it can sit well with your stomach too. Surprisingly at 12:00 PM, there was beginning to form a line as eager people waited for this. We were able to place our order relatively quickly, and the dessert came out in less than 10 minutes.
Ambiance & Service
Like all things in this area, it feels like it’s one of those outdoor random malls, where the seating can sometimes spill over into the drive way. Fortunately, normal cars are not allowed here, so it’s heavily gated by security guards.
Food
The Pudim (R$35) came with sorvete de pudim (flan ice cream), caramelo toffee (toffee caramel), and pudim (flan). This was surprisingly pretty good, and I was told there’s always a line later in the day. We went here right before lunch and right before they opened, so we were able to get it right away. I can’t say it’s the best thing I’ve ever eaten, but it’s overall pretty good. The flan is very similar to the flan that you get from Brazilian restaurants, and the ice cream flavor matches it well too.
Overall Impression
Tem Umami is a pretty good dessert place, though if you’ve been to Asian dessert places especially in the US, the flavors and style are quite familiar. One of the reasons this place is popular is because anything that is different for Brazilians will be attractive. Despite it not having the most unique flavors, I think overall it is worth a try.
Yelp & Google Jabs
the waiting time is quite long (I’ve heard reports of people waiting almost an hour), and there’s absolutely no infrastructure to handle the volume of customers
It’s crazy to me that people generally would wait long for dessert, but I’ve seen it happen even in Manhattan. In most cases, people ought to go to these places earlier in a non-prime hours. Otherwise, it’s not worth waiting an hour.
But there are no tables or chairs, much less restrooms. You have to eat the ice cream standing up right there
This area seems like one of those outdoor food festival places where you just stand and eat. When we went, there were some tables and chairs, but they were sparse. This was definitely a stand and get your hands dirty experience.
Revisions
- Mar 7, 2026 - Initial revision.