São Paulo Food Porn: Panela Na Rua

The one and only! Gorgonzola Burger via Meat Chopper

For those of you who haven`t received the memo yet: São Paulo tops every city in the world in terms of food. If you want to indulge in a number of different foods, all in one place, you should visit Panela na Rua on 85 Praça Benedito Calixto. Its a collection of food stands and food trucks in a 400m² courtyard, which has a roof that can be closed when its raining. The Gorgonzola Burger by Meat Chopper blows everything out of the water, but so does the Paella and the Tacos and the beer... you get the point. 

We went on a Sunday and even though we were not the only ones there, Panela Na Rua doesn`t get as packed as the Metro after work on Friday. You don`t have to wait in line too long, but if you do, just have another Chopp. Just keep in mind, the place only opens on Thursdays and Fridays!

Go check them out Thu 18:00 - 22:00 or Sun 12:00 - 18:00!

Adress: Praça Benedito Calixto, 85 - Pinheiros, São Paulo
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/panelanarua?fref=ts
Instagram: http://instagram.com/PANELANARUA

The beer is cold and... extremely good

Paella time!

The Burgers at Panela Na Rua are out of this world!

You want sweets? They got èm.

Anyone say Tacos? Pic courtesy of Kondi at btth.pl

Okay Pessoal! reporting on Panela Na Rua:

Jamie Oliver to open new restaurant in São Paulo

Jamie Oliver, the famous British chef, is planning on opening a new restaurant in São Paulo by the end of the year, his first opening in Latin America. The owner of Fifteen is probably more famous in the UK for his school dinner’s campaign than for his actual restaurants but that won`t stop him taking on São Paulo.

He will however, need to hire a better public relations team. His first public declarations were an attack on the country’s favourite sweet the brigadeiro.  Branded “too sweet” and “horrible” he immediately provoked a backlash from Brazilian chefs and food critics who accused him of misunderstanding the local food culture. Oh dear. 

Jamie Oliver, not a fan of sweet food

At least he has the advantage of not being a household name in Brazil so it will probably be quickly forgotten. In any case let’s hope he doesn’t make any more gaffes before opening “Jamie’s Italian” in Bixiga. No, wait, in Itaim.

São Paulo presents: World Cup Themed Hot Dogs

“Every day of the week there’s a different hot dog. One for each country of the world cup”

These are the proud words of Wesley, the owner of a hot dog stand in the Itaquera region of São Paulo, where the new world cup stadium is located.

And he’s not kidding either. Fifa's, recently published, official food menu is looking distinctively unimaginative next to Wesley's. He has dreamed up a hot dog for Italy, Germany, Japan, Argentina, Mexico, and the USA amongst others, each one with national flag coloured bread. 

Located in the shopping centre opposite the stadium he’s expecting to cash in on the thousands of hungry fans drawn to the area for the world cup matches. And the one he expects to drive sales is the Brazilian hot dog complete with kale, farofa (!) and, yes, feijoada.

Check out the pics below and tell us what you think in the comments!

The American hot dog has cheddar, coleslaw and barbecue sauce

The Argentine hot dog sports garlic mayo and chimichurri sauce

The German hot dog is covered with sauerkraut and dark mustard

Italy also has its own dog burried under tomato sauce and basil

The Japanese dog has sukiyaki, sesame and a hot roll instead of the hot dog. 

With Chilli, guacamole and Nachos, it can only be the Mexican hot dog

And the king of them all: the feijoada dog!

Trend Report: Food trucks in São Paulo

Suddenly food trucks are “in”. Following the success of American food trucks during the downturn years, the concept has taken off in São Paulo.

Up until last year the best cheap food you could hope to grab on the street was sweetcorn, popcorn or a dogão (Brazilian hot dog). Suddenly food trucks popped up and became a trendy alternative. The shift brought home the need for regulation, a new law was passed and so this year will be the first year São Paulo has legally compliant fully authorised food trucks.

2014, then, is the year of the food truck. Many of them have literally just arrived in town and still don't have websites but here are the top 7 to look out for:

1. Rolando Doguinho

This has to get first mention as he was here on the streets of São Paulo doing food trucks before it was cool (or regulated). You may remember the Rolando Massinha truck in Sumaré. It’s the same guy but now he does hot dogs and is at Shopping Vila Olímpia. He’s actually capitalising on his first mover advantage and turning into the first chain food truck having also launched Rolando Churrinho which sells Brazilian doughnuts on Rua Sumaré 1089.

2. The Holy Pasta Food Truck

In short, Holy Pasta is what the cool kids eat. The truck is on Facebook , and Four Square so you can follow it around the city. It is going for the high quality at a low price angle which explains why they make it a pasta only truck. You'll find it in places like Vila Madalena.

3. Temakaria Na Van

If you thought food trucks were Western food only, think again. And if you thought driving your restaurant around on a gasoline powered vehicle was not environmentally friendly, think again, again. Temakaria Na Van, the brainchild of a former DJ Alan Liao, uses biodiesel and is powered by solar panels fitted onto the roof of the van. He even has selective recycling containers which he takes away with him afterwards. Catch him in Berrini on the southside.

4. Jameson Food Truck

Of course, if something is fashionable, nocturnal and has only started being regulated, you can expect some of the major alcohol brands to get in on the act. Meet the Jameson Food Truck. It does curry, burgers, hotdogs as well as 'surubim and mandioca' known to the common man as 'fish and chips'. To wash it down? Jameson Tea and Lime. Obviously.

5. King Doner Kebaberia

Those of you unfamiliar with São Paulo may find this one unimaginative but actually kebabs are not a very common fast food here unlike many countries in Europe such as Germany or the UK. Tracking down King Doner Kebaberia is another matter. This guy roams not only the city but inland and up the coast too.

6. Buzina Food Truck

This is probably the most “in” truck of 2014. Read anything about food trucks and it’ll mention Buzina. Why? Well, because they went overkill on bringing high quality food to the street and employed two reknowned chefs: Márcio Silva (ex-Oryza) e Jorge Gozalez (ex-DOM). With these two in the kitchen there’s no need for a fixed menu, they will just rustle up something amazing on the go.

7. EATinerante

Also run by a chef who didn’t want to be left out of the party. Alex Capeto does mostly Italian food and is parked semi-permanently at Rua Gabriel Monteiro da Silva, 1236 in Jardim Europa.

Victor Nunes; the artist who uses bits of real food in his drawings

Victor Nunes is a 63 year old, retired art director, from São Paulo, Brazil. Last year he opened a Facebook account and started posting sketches in which food and other household objects becoming part of his art.

He claims to draw every single day and he certainly updates his page with a lot of drawings.

Below are some examples of his light-hearted work:

Chocolate hats 

Playful scissors

Bread crumb hats

Coffee foam

Popcorn art

Lettuce as you've never seen it before

The versatile pen cap

Why Biscoito Globo is originally from São Paulo not Rio de Janeiro

Don't tell the Cariocas but the much loved, iconic and super famous Biscoito Globo is actually originally from São Paulo.

It's a little known fact but the story goes like this. Back in 1953 three brothers from a São Paulo family left their parental home after a bitter separation and went to live with their cousin in the Ipiranga neighbourhood. Milton, Jaime and João Ponce's cousin owned a local bakery so amongst other recipes they learned to make biscoitos de polvilho (manioc starch flour biscuits).

A year later in 1954 Rio de Janeiro hosted a large religious gathering and, sensing an opportunity, the Ponce brothers decided to travel to Rio to sell biscoitos in the capital of the neighbouring state.

They were a huge success. So much so, that the Ponces decided to move to Rio where they were "discovered" by the Globo bakery in Botafogo. And the rest, as they say, is history.

There are now two variants, the traditional savoury one and the sweet one distinguished by the colour of the packaging (green for savoury and red for sweet) so as to help non-literate street sellers tell the difference. And to this day 150,000 Biscoito Globos are churned out on a daily basis and every single one of them still comes from a single factory in Rio.

The first biscoito, however, came from São Paulo..

Lunch in São Paulo's Little Korea

I recently travelled to South Korea and, knowing little about what I should expect, I was pleasantly suprised by what I found there. So much so that I now hunt down Korean restaurants wherever I happen to be.

Lucky then, that Brazil has the largest Korean population in Latin America and that cosmopolitan São Paulo is home to most of them. Back in the day emigration was encouraged to reduce unemployment and population growth in South Korea. This population has been boosted by some less official arrivals from the porous border with neighbouring Paraguay peaking somewhere between 50,000 and 100,000, 90% of which were in São Paulo. This has since dropped due to the South Korean economic "miracle" and the "reverse migration" phenomenon it produced.

Still there are 3 neighbourhoods in São Paulo with significant Korean population: Bom Retiro which is shared by many other immigrants and is home to the Korean embassy, Aclimação a middle to upperclass area and Bras, famous locally for its cheap clothes (it's no coincidence that most Koreans work in the textile business, one of South Korea's trademark industries)

Here are some pictures from my lunch last month on the back streets of the Bom Retiro district:

A typical Korean meal in Bom Retiro, São Paulo

Spicy sashimi salad

Hard to order tea if you don't speak Korean!

I still have to hit up on Bras and Aclimação which I've heard has some superb restaurants. To be continued...

Which fruit is what fruit in Brazilian supermarkets

Having made a concerted effort to spend more time in Brazil and less time travelling this year I have recently been receiving compliments as to how good my Portuguese has become. This is very encouraging but there are still parts of the language that I find difficult to master.

Whether this is a common problem or whether it's just me, I'll never know, but in previous languages I have learned I have always found the names of plants especially difficult and in Brazil the vast diversity of different fruit complicates my vocabulary learning even further.

Here's an example from my local supermarket which has a plentiful but not exhaustive array of fruit in the fruit and vegetable department. I occasionally look at the labels just to memorise the names in the hope that having the fruit in front of me will provide a strong visual clue but I find that when I return I still get one fruit confused with another.

Here is an example. All the below fruit look very similar and yet they are all very different:

First up is the Atimoia fruit which is also known as the Pineapple sugar apple although it is related neither to the Sugar Apple nor to the Pineapple.  It is what is known in botanical circles as a hybrid fruit a cross between  the Annona Cherimola and the Annona squamosa. There are three types which are common in Brazil: The Gefner, The Thompson and the fantastically named Pink Mammoth

This one is a very common fruit called Graviola or Soursop in English. I started drinking the juice before knowing what the actual fruit looked like.  Originally from the Antilles islands, it's called Sape Sape in Angola and in Brazil it grows in the Amazon and the North Eastern states.

OK now it gets confusing. This one is Kino, or Cucumis Metuliferus and it's originally from Africa and rather than being related to either of the fruit above it is a close relative of the melon and the cucumber. It's referred to as the Horned Melon in English and apparently it tastes a bit like a kiwi, can't wait to try,

Yes, there's one more. This one is Pinha or Annona squamosa or Sugar Apple in English. It's popular in many tropical countries but not to be confused with the Pineapple Sugar Apple which is the first fruit mentioned above

Now are we all sure we know our Horned Melons from our Pink Mammoths?

Seen on the streets of São Paulo: Penalty fines for not finishing your lunch

There is a R$3 fine for wasting food at this restaurant in Carapicuiba, São Paulo

A popular way to have lunch in São Paulo, and indeed in Brazil in general, is to eat at a buffet style restaurant. These vary wildly in quality and price but the format is usually standard. You are required to choose to pay either a per kilo price (you weigh your plate and the more it weighs the more you pay in line with the price per kilo of that particular restaurant) or a fixed fee which enables you not to worry about weight (known in some countries as All You Can Eat)

What I found amusing when I started to get to know more buffet restaurants is that a lot of them threaten to apply a penalty fine to you if you choose the all you can eat option (comida a vontade) and don't finish your meal. It is called a taxa de desperdicio, literally a wastage fee, and brings back childhood memories although I don't recall my parents applying a monetary punishment back then!

From a business point of view it makes complete sense of course and means you can offer more competitive rates by keeping wastage to a minimum. Everyone's a winner except the guy who overestimates what he is able to eat - optimistic consumption is a crime!!

Dual-function tooth pick discovered in São Paulo's best "pastel" café

“Pasteis” or “Wind pasties” as the bad ones are called are a sort of pastry envelope with some sort of filling (and air) inside.  Love them or hate them they are a local favourite and believe it or not there are serious  competitions as to who does them best. 

I had heard for a while now that Pastel da Maria on Fradique Coutinho has the best pasteis in town and in the official competitions Maria always seems to make the finals. Here’s her with her certificates in case you don’t believe me:

And here she is with one of her "pasteis":

Anyway, today seemed like a good day to try them…

..And they were good. But the real surprise was the tooth pick on the table. At first it seemed like a normal toothpick. Here it is:

Apparently normal tooth pick

But then! Then I discovered that it had special powers:

Special tooth pick

The green tip is a mint coated spike so that your mouth feels fresh (after picking out stubborn bits of “pasteis”) and as far as I’m concerned that’s the first ever high-tech dual-function tooth pick I’ve seen. For that alone Maria Pasteis is the one for me..