Pastel de feira
Photo: BuenosAiresPhotographer · CC BY-SA 2.0

Casa do Pastel fries its beef and cheese pastel to order at a Tatuape counter that never closes, the brand's first unit, opened on Rua Tuiuti in 1981.

The pastel arrived in Sao Paulo with Chinese and Japanese immigrant cooks in the early 20th century, who adapted the fried dumpling into a thin-skinned, deep-fried pocket sold from street-market stalls and open-air feiras across the city. It grew into a Saturday-market ritual: a pastel eaten standing at a barraca, often with a glass of sugarcane juice on the side. Sao Paulo runs its own municipal pastel contest, and shops like Pastel da Maria have built a following on winning it. Fillings run from beef and cheese to hearts of palm and pizza style, but the defining feature stays the same: a paper-thin, blistered shell fried until it crackles.

2 editor picks for Pastel de feira in São Paulo, ranked by editorial score. All São Paulo signature dishes · Pastel de feira across every city.

Also in: Rio de Janeiro.

Pastel da Maria ★ 4.3

$Street foodSantana

Pastel da Maria runs its Wednesday stall at the Santana street fair in Sao Paulo, the beef pastel that won the city's own pastel contest twice.

OrderPastel de carne (beef pastel)

DirectionsView

Casa do Pastel ★ 4.1

$Street foodTatuape

Casa do Pastel keeps its Rua Tuiuti pastel counter in Sao Paulo's Tatuape district open 24 hours, the brand's first unit, opened on that street in 1981.

OrderPastel (fried Brazilian pastry)

DirectionsView

Learn to cook it, or eat it with a guide

Pastel de feira makes more sense with someone from São Paulo explaining it. These are the classes and tours we have checked, with booking links.

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