Eating & Sleeping in Sao Paulo (Again)

Back to Sao Pauo for the third time and for a few weeks. And yes, I did buy more Havianas. I’ve really fallen in love with them as “hausschuhe.” I definitely would not choose to wear them for a long walk anywhere, but inside the house, they’re fantastic.

I had a bit of a false-start with housing in Sao Paulo this time. I tried using Air B&B and rented an apartment, only to arrive and find that the toilet wouldn’t flush. The owner was generally responsive, but he kept telling me there was a trick to flushing the toilet. I couldn’t figure this mysterious trick out, so at 8:30 pm on a Thursday night, I had to repack and find somewhere else to go, in the midst of some huge hospitality convention. There was nothing available anywhere, except for the Renaissance, which I stayed at for a few nights last time. I reserved for two nights this time, but at $350 bucks a night, I couldn’t stay there long.

So I moved on. To the Staybridge Suites in Itaim. $265 a night. Much better. I like the Staybridge because you get a little living room in addition to your bedroom, and there’s a microwave and a kettle. But what I didn’t like about the Staybridge is the lack of common areas. There was nowhere to hang out except for your room. (To be fair, the Staybridge is attached to the Brascan foodcourt, so there are restaurants just outside the hotel. But they are not of the sort that you’d hang out at for ages. I like to hang out.)

I was trying to be really good about food while I was in Sao Paulo, so I kept things pretty simple for the most part. But here are some of the better places I dined in:

Santo Grau, Rua Jerônimo Da Veiga, 179, Itaim: I LOVED this place. Great outdoor patio, friendly service, excellent food. Great for a business meeting. So enamored was I of the lunch I had there my first visit (some sort of Brazilian fish with this crazy good sauce), that I never strayed and ordered the same dish two other times. The Verdict: Go.

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