2025 Brazil Trip: The Restaurants, Pt. 2 - Sao Paulo

A Casa do Porco

1.) (1) Pork Shank Terrine with Cambuci, Gherkin, (2) Pork Tartare with radish and Caruru Leaf, (3) Mortadella with Brown Butter, (4) Pork Crackling Bread, (5) Ora Pro Nobis, Ginger and Turmeric

No words man, no words. This will likely be my reaction to most of the courses here. Each of these bites were amazing - from teh simple (the best tasting mortadella), to the "could easily be at a $200 tasting menu" complex like the shank terrine with fixings. These were all just masterful bites to start the meal.

2.) Second mix of (1) Sweet Potato Steamed Bun, Milanese Pork and Beetroot Mayo, (2) Roasted Pork Empanada with Hard Cream Cheese, (3) Pork in a Can with Cassava and Banana, and (4) Pork Broth with Miso and Tucupi

Another just stellar round of bites. That sweet potato bun with pork and beetroot mayo is really what made it clear that this is going to be a true just perfect place. That dish barely ahd any pork in it, but was still so delicate, so perfect - the sweet potato bun was so damn sweet. The other dishes were also quite great, even if the pork broth may have been just a bit too pork-y.

3.) Mix of (1) Pork Loin Carpaccio, Anchovies and Fermented Mustard, (2) Pork Crackling with Tomato Powder, and (3) Fresh Leaves and Tangerine Salad

This was the last 'here's just a bunch of stuff' courses until the main, and probably the least effective. Granted, the pork loin carpaccio was brilliant - the saltiness of the anchovies adn mustard somehow worked perfectly with the carpaccio. The crackling was great but too much tomato in the powder (I know, that's my problem).

4.) Cotecino & Pork Pasta with Braised Spinach, Toasted Vegetable Broth and Shrimp & Turmeric Oil

Sometimes I don't get the dabbles and bubbles of oil chef's add to these dishes. Well, you have a dish like this and you understand it perfectly. The shrimp and turmeric flavors popped so well and amplified the dish. The pasta itself was perfectly cooked, with the shrimp and pork mixture working so well. Just a masterful dish.

5.) Ground Maize, Pork Rib, Fried Chicory, Pickled Vegetables, with Corn & Cheese Form

Another just stellar dish, even if it looks kind of like a dessert. Granted, it looked less like a dessert when you crack open that ground maize and see the beautiful pork rib underneath it. These last two courses really took A Casa do Porco up a level - doing the little dabs of small bites are great, but a perfectly composed dish like this and the last one are great.

6.) Main course of (1) Roast Pork, (2) Pork and Sweetbread Sausage, (3) Freshly Harvested Eggplant and Banana

This is like when Borago served just their 24-hour spit roasted lamb as a final course. No real tweezery sides and garnishes. Here's just two incredibly soft pieces of pork (with perfectly crispy skin). The sweetbread sausage had a truly unique flavor. The vegetables again weren't anything fancy but just so fresh. Sure, you may want more pizzazz in your final course, but keeping it simple (I say this knowing it takes masterful skill to make) works too.

7.) Toasted Bread, Rice Pudding, Toffee Caramel, Milk Foam, Fresh Vanilla Ice Cream with Crunchy Peanuts

This dish was called "from the cow'd udder" as all of it had elements from cow (milk and such). Of course, a cow isn't a pig, but I can't blame them here. Still was a really nice dessert if a bit unmemorable (certainly compared to the rest of the meal).

8.) Petit Fours (including pork crackling dust on chocolate)

I'll say this, even their petit fours were perfectly unique, from cheese and jam, to pork crackling dst, to a little strawberry cone. Not the usual mimi ganaches and whatever the hell. A perfectly unique way to end a perfectly unique meal.

Rank on Trip: #2/6 (will be my new #13 on my list)

D.O.M.

1.) Cashew Pulp & Juice with Manoic Smoked Cashews

Kind of a weird start, but what looks fairly staid was actually quite tasty. The pulp & juice in teh spoon was incredible. Just the weirdest combination of textures and flavor. The cashew nuts were just cashew nuts, but also the smoke was amazing.

2.) Trio of (1) Potato Mangiapame with Small Fish and Corn. (2) Cassava with Beef Tartare and (3) Tamarind and Farofa Chicken

Unbelievable - all three of them. This was the only multi-bite course than D.O.M has, which I guess gives it the appearance of less courses than others, but really all three of them were just great. The Potato Mangiapane was perfectly swett. The Beef Tartare was about the best beef tartare that I've ever had (granted, it was just two bites). The tamarind chicken was perfect - the idea being to roll the chicken around in the farofa. All three of these were just divine.

3.) Dried Fruit & Pumpkin Tortellini made with Tapioca with Pumpkin Sauce

Another just monster dish - the tapioca tortelline with fruit & pumplin were amazing. As good as any tortellini that you would get in Italy - truly. And that pumpkin sauce was the best form of a thick, glistening punpkin soup - I've tried to make something similar to mixed success but not nearly this depth and clarity of flavor/

4.) Cured Egg Yolk, Fried Egg Whites, Butter Cheese and Red Rice

I'm not a cured egg yolk fan, otherwise I probably would've ranked this more highly in my mental notes of how good each dish was. It was cool to see the various preparation of eggs - including the eggy white thing at the top (what looks like chicken skin). Crazy inventive dish, just not my cup of tea.

5.) Mushroom & Bone Broth with Sweet Manioc Chips

Looks simple, but this was awesome. The bone broth wass so damn flavorful, with the mushrooms adding a graet additional umami bomb. But the real star of the show were those sweet manioc chips - little mini manioc tacos if you will. Sweet on their own, but a ridiculously tasty combination if you dipped them into the soup.

6.) Amazonian Fish cooked in Banana Leaf

I've had versions of this dish be it at home, or at Gaggan, and this preparation was as good as any. I didn't write down what the sauce was (the kind of cloggy loolking white/cream sauce) but it was great - so tart and fruity. The fish was cooked perfectly. It was a thick banana leaf where as you went you can scrape up bits of it as well. Great dish.

7.) Quail, Polenta and Native Leaf

Great dish - great qual, great polenta. The leaf was great. The sauce (a quail reduction infused with guava) was outrageous. Masterful dish, which is all the more surprising it wasn't the primary main given...

8.) Brazilian Bacon with Goat Sauce

... This was jsut something of a miss in my book. The goat sauce was ridiculously flavorful to be sure, as was the bacon, but the problem is that, as you can see (or not see), the bacon is barely visible - thinly sliced between the green thigns on the right side. I don't really know what that green thing was but it took over the dish a bit too much.

9.) Bean Cream, Melon & Machichi Granita

Really great dish - another restaurant where the best dessert might have been the pallate cleanser. The Machichi granita was probably the best part. All of it was excellent though. Great overall dish, and a nice bounceback after that just weird last main.

10.) Bucuri Fruit & Foam

I somehow forgot to take a picture of this I guess. And honestly don't really remember it too much. Shame on me, really, but across six tasting menu dinners it was bound to happen.

11.) White Chocolate & Tapioca Pudding

A really nice, and beautiful, ending. Each element was amazing. Tis was just a masterful version of what seems to be home-style Brazilian dessert. The clear white bit below the rose was jsut rose infused tapioca whic was awesome. A perfect way to end a meal.

12,) Petit Fours

Really nice last course of bites, all so Brazilian and crunchy. A great final last few bites of Brazilian high cuisine.

Rank on Trip: 5/6  (will be my new #26 favorite Tasting Menu)

2025 Brazil Trip: The Restaurants, Pt. 1 - Rio de Janeiro

Oro

1.) Rock Oyster with Guava and Piquinho Pepper

The oyster was incredible, a great mix of salty & sweet. But the real star was the guava, which would become a recurring trend in many dishes, both here and at all the other stops. Great way to start the first course of the first tasting menu stop.

2.) Trio of (1) Scallop & Heart of Palm Tartlette, (2) Kale, Codfish and Potato Sandwhich and (3) "Fancy" Ham Tomato & Bread

All of these were great, but the scallop & heat of palm tartlette was just exquisite. So well crafted, adn teh tartlette was strong enough to last 3-4 bites (I hate doing the "eat it all in one bite" routine. The other two were also quite good, the kale & codfish was probably slightly too crumbly, but really well cooked. The fancy toast was great except for my aversion to raw tomato. Take that little slice off, or change it to a raw fruit or something, and it may have been the best bite.

3.) Trio of (1) Crab & Lime Croquette, (2) Shrimp Soup with Brazilian Cracker and (3) Cheese and Nut Bread Bolinho

The crab in the croquette was nice, but the fingerling lime dollop on top was just amazing. Really added to the dish. The soup was interesting because the green color is just a parsley top, but the real star of the dish is the shrimp and cassava underneath - a really nice three to four spoons. The cracker, to be honest, didn't really add much. Finally the cheese bread (pan do queco) with nut was just divine. I love these almost dessert like early dishes to add a hit of sweetness...

4.) Trio of (1) Pork Tartare with Yolk, (2) Mochi of Shrimp & Olive and (3) Duck & Cassava Tataki Bolinho

... especially since the next trio was mroe umami, salty. It's almost like they plan these things! The pork tartare was quite good but the worst of the three. Worst is definitely relative, but probably so because it was the most traditional. The shrimp & olive mochi was just incredibly - such a great squishiness feel in the mouth. Finally the bolinho was amazing. Duck is far more a staple protein in Brazil than I ever imagiend and it with the brined cassava was special.

5.) Pork Belly, Pineapple & Kimchi "Cervantes" Sandwhich

The "Cervantes" is a famous eponymous sandwhich sold at a Boteco in Copacabana - featured at the tail end of the Rio Somebody Feed Phil episode. Here it was upscaled a lot and just divine. Probably my favorite course. I love it when a place like this takes a local street food specialty, keeps it qjite similar (so not just hit it with some molecular gastronomy) and go from there.

6.) Lobster with Leek & Pistachio Purees

The mains at Oro were all tasty, if some a bit too clsoe to something I could make, to where it probably ends up ranking 6th out of the six tasting menu spots. Now, it is cheaper than Lasai or D.O.M., and still worth visiting, certainly. The lobster was cooked amazing here, and the leek puree was excellent. Probably just a hint of too much pistachio which overpowered it a bit too much.

7.) Seabass with Corn Four Ways

My only critique of this dish was after one cut into the fish the pieces of baby corn on it started falling off - but if anything maybe it makes it better, because the baby corn on top infused with the corn broth below is just magic. This was probably my favorite main - a personal favorite type of dish for me, where they just take an ingredient like the humble corn and beautify it up multiple ways.

8.) Many Different Types of Mushroom

In a way this is similar, with four different preparations or elements of mushroom, down to the mushroom dust on the bottom end. The orange to the right is a 10-day cured egg yolk, which added some great funkiness. Again, if I had a slight critique it was the mushroom on the top (the white strips) were a bit too traditional. Everything else was a 10/10.

9.) Short Rib with Chestnut Puree

The short rib was cooked amazing. Like truly one of the best cooked short ribs I've ever had - better than Korea, better than anything. The chestnut puree was probably 10% too chestnut-y, which is still a nice flavor, but if anything may have slightly distracted from the perfectness of the short rib.

10.) Coconut Many Ways

The desserts were uniformally quite good on all of the tasting menu spots. Oro was the only one to have just one dessert (technically they have two, of which you pick one). I went with a panoply of coconut as everything on that plate is either fully or largely built on coconut. It was sublime, and I don't even like coconut taste in many forms. Great dessert - just which I could've tried the other one.

11.) Petit Fours

Oddly, the one they intentionally gave two of was probably my least favorite. The otehr were perfectly squishy, marshmallowy, gelatinous and fun.

Rank on Trip: 6/6  (will be my new #33 favorite Tasting Menu)

Lasai

1.) Arrow Root Cracker Salad

As is immediately fairly clear, Lasai was more technically beautiful and inventive. Now, as we'll get to it didn't work in every case, but as an initial go this was excellent, certainyl the best "salad" I've  had at a tasting menu. The arrow root base (the cracker on top and bottom) was quite tart and wonderful.

2.) Golden Flax Cracker with Baby Corn, Okra and Ricotta

And here's where I think it maybe doesn't always work. The Flaxseed base broke up way too much and was a bit too bitter and tough. Everything that was on top of it: amazing. The ricotta worked so well as a contrast to all the various bitter vegetables. Beautiful top, iffy bottom.

3.) "Carrot Crepe"

So simple in a way - the stuff in teh middle just julienned strips of native carrots pickled for a long time. The thing on the outside was a crepe made of carrot tops, which is just the type of stuff I love at a place like this. I throw out the carrot tops. Hell we all do, or just buy carrots with the tops already removed. But I guess you can do a lot more than just that, huh? The crepe tasted amazing.

4.) Scallop & Heart of Palm Yuzu Consomme

Probably the best early bite - heart of palm is such a flexible vegetable. Great in its basic setting (serving raw, maybe slightly picked) but also great in these more unique uses. The scallop was unsurprsingly excellent as was the perfect consomme - just the best hint of yuzu. 

5.) Quinoa & Eggplant Sandwhich

Oddly. the Quinoa cracker broke up more here than the Flaxseed cracker on teh second bite, but I'm far more forgiving on this one because the grilled eggplant in the middle was incredible. Probably the single best element of any of the initial snacks (the first 9 courses). Over the years, I've grown to appreciate the flexibility of the eggplant, but even for an eggplant this was truly great.

6.) Coconut Milk & Seaweed Uni Custard

A nice little change of pace, even if I'm someone who finds uni a bit overrated. That said, here the uni was mixed together perfectly with the coconut milk to create a really nice custard. Small bite, but again despite being probably all in all one of the weaker snacks, a welcome change of pace.

7.) Potato "Pillow" with Red Prawn Tartare & Aged Pork Belly

Ok, here's the thing - this was really good. The fish tartarte was super fresh and well spiced. The Pillow was great - really great mix of crunchy and soft. Only issue really was the aged pork belly. It was nice, but a little too little of it given how much a deal they made of how special it was of an ingredient.

8.) Fried Plaintain, Mochic, Sweet Plantains & Oxtail

I don't know what mochichi is - the leaf I guess? Doesn't matter, evetything else was really nice. I love how inventive they were with the use of banana. One of those classical Brazilian ingredients, The oxtail of it all was nice, but probably have had better oxtail elsewhere. Banana was rightly the star of the dish.

9.) Pan do Queco of Brie and Guava

A simple bread ball, with guava and brie in it. A classic combination, a more classic Brazilian combination. The bread far softer than it probably appears. Just a great way to transition into the mains.

10.) Yellowtail & Squash with two Tahini Sauces

This is going to sound worse than I mean it but this was the weakest of the mains, despite its beautiful presentation. What really hurt it was the normal tahini overpowered the dish a bit. It was a great tahini, but just taht. The black tahini (normal tahini but infused with a couple elements I didn't write down) was better - wish the ratio of the two sauces were reversed.

11.) Squid & Melon with Cashewnut Foam

One of those dishes where I stupidly didn't take a picture pre-foam, where visually it looked better. Anyway, the cashewnut sauces was far better here as a foam than say yesterday when it was more of a sauce. The melon and squid strips (what you see is melon - the squid was cut similarly) was an unexpectedly great combination.

12.) Braised Pork Coppa with Squash & Lions Mane Mushroom

Unreal dish - one of the best preparations of pork (admittedly, maybe until a couple days later at A Casa do Porco...), but even the other elements made this a final main worth of its place in the menu. The pork though was the star - cooked for 8 hours, being continuusly basted. Just such clear flavor. So delicate. All of this dish was incredible.

13.) Ciruella Granita & Passionfruit Pannacotta

Not sure what Citruella is, other than to say it is great. I know what passionfruit is, and it's rarely been this good. I don't know how much of a compliment it is for a place like Lasai to say that your favorite dessert was the palatte cleanser, but this was fantastic.

14.) White Chocolate Mousse with Honey & Toasted White Chocolate

Really nice dish, and the honey woven in worked excellenty. The toasted white chocolates (the thing that looks like normal chocoalte dirt) was great, but overall just a tad too simplistic, or maybe more accurately less Brazilian than I would've liked.

15.) Petit Fours

Ah, the age old question of is it annoying when you get just a Petit Two. Well, when they're both quite good and you're already full. than not really. A really nice way to end a great meal.

Rank on Trip: 3/6  (will be my new #19)