Kintaro is a japanese restaurant in Liberdade, São Paulo.
Editorially verified September 27, 2026 by Elliot Marsh, TableJourney editor. Source.
Why locals love it: Running since 1993 with only a narrow counter and two tables, its regulars are largely Liberdade's own Japanese-Brazilian community.
Tip: Look at the display case for the day's ten-plus cold and hot petiscos rather than the printed menu.
Guided tour · 3 hours
Explore São Paulo's Liberdade neighborhood on a guided food tour. Taste a variety of dishes, including a mortadella sandwich, tonkatsu, and a surprise secret dish.
Guided tour · 2 hours
Discover the streets of São Paulo with your professional guide. Enjoy snacks whilst you travel through the neighborhood of Liberdade under the influence of the Japanes...
4 hours
Come hungry and ready to get your hands dirty: in a real a real Brazilian churrasco class, hosted in a local home. Learn to build a proper fire, grill premium cuts and...
Address: Rua Thomaz Gonzaga 57, Liberdade, Sao Paulo - SP, 01506-020, São Paulo
Emporio Nordestino serves carne de sol and baiao de dois from a 19th-century casarao in Freguesia do O, Sao Paulo, far from downtown's food strips.
Why locals goSet inside a 19th-century casarao facing the old Freguesia do O church square, far from the city's usual Northeastern food strip.
TipOrder the carne de sol with green beans and cassava puree, one of the most requested plates, and save room for the jackfruit or cashew sweets.
Cantina D'Irene runs a family pasta rodizio in Alto da Mooca, Sao Paulo, sending around 20 dishes to the table, from pasta and risotto to stuffed polpettone.
Why locals goIt serves only a pasta rodizio, an alternative to the a la carte model of the older cantinas around it.
TipThe rodizio brings about 20 dishes, pastas, risottos and some meats, with bread and a dessert, usually a cannoli, included.
Don Carlini has made handmade pasta in a Mooca casarao in Sao Paulo since 1985, its recipes still passed down inside the founding Carlini family.
Why locals goA Carlini-family cantina since 1985 making its own handmade pasta, with recipes still passed down inside the same family.
TipArthur Carlini and Maria do Carmo opened the house in 1985 to share the recipes of their Sunday family lunches; their family still runs it.
Hwang To Gil is a Bom Retiro home-style Korean kitchen in Sao Paulo, opened in 2000 behind a facade marked only in Korean, its dishes cooked by the owners.
Why locals goIts facade is marked only in Korean characters, and for almost ten years after opening in 2000 it served mostly the Bom Retiro Korean community.
TipThe menu has photos to point at; for dinner, arrive between 18:30 and 19:00, as evening service ends early.
Acrópoles has served moussaka and grilled octopus from a Bom Retiro storefront in Sao Paulo since 1959, still the city's oldest Greek kitchen today.
Why locals goThere is no printed menu: the day's dishes are on a wall board and you walk into the kitchen to choose from the trays, as regulars have since 1959.
TipWalk into the kitchen and look over the trays before choosing; the moussaka is the dish to try first.
Prato Grego hides on a gallery's upper floor in Bom Retiro, Sao Paulo, where first-time guests break a plaster plate, guided by owner Stelios Moyssiadis.
Why locals goTucked on the first floor of a Bom Retiro gallery block, with a plate-breaking ritual that owner Stelios Moyssiadis guides for every first-time guest.
TipTell the staff it is your first visit; that is what triggers the plate-breaking tradition at the table.
