Folha Names São Paulo’s Best Restaurants and Bars for 2026
São Paulo · FOOD & DRINK
Key Facts
—The award: O Melhor de São Paulo Gastronomia 2026, Folha’s fifteenth edition.
—Announced: Monday 17 August 2026, at the Sala São Paulo.
—Jury winners: 43, chosen by 45 journalists and content producers.
—Public winners: 20 more, from a Datafolha survey of São Paulo residents.
—First award of the night: Tordesilhas, the restaurant run by chef Mara Salles.
—Bars: Bar do Luiz Fernandes took three Datafolha categories at once.
Forty-three winners picked by a jury of forty-five, twenty more picked by the city itself, and a 260-page guide behind them. The ceremony was Monday night.
Folha de S.Paulo announced the winners of its 2026 dining awards at the Sala São Paulo on Monday 17 August. It is the fifteenth edition of the guide behind them.
How the São Paulo awards work
There are two sets of winners, decided in two different ways. A jury of 45 journalists and content producers chose 43 of them.
The categories run wide. They cover best restaurant, cocktail bar, bakery, patisserie and ice cream shop, plus chef, sommelier and barista of the year.
Separately, Datafolha surveyed São Paulo residents and produced 20 more winners. Those are the houses the city itself named, which is a different measure entirely.
Neither set is a ranking. Both are lists of winners by category, which is a different thing from an order of merit.
The night’s first award
The first prize handed out went to Tordesilhas, the restaurant run by chef Mara Salles. Folha described it as a house that came to stand for the case for Brazilian cooking in São Paulo.
That order of ceremony is a statement in itself. It puts a Brazilian kitchen at the front of a city better known for its Italian and Japanese cooking.
What the public picked
Bar do Luiz Fernandes, in the northern zone, took three Datafolha categories. They were best boteco, best bar to eat at and best beer list.
A boteco is the neighbourhood bar that serves food, closer to a corner pub than a restaurant. It is the most São Paulo category on the list.
Bar Brahma tied on the beer list category. Another house took best bar for the small hours.
A city with no single answer
One figure in Folha’s coverage says more than any winner. In the best-restaurant category, houses reaching one percent of spontaneous mentions rose from 21 in 2012 to 28 in 2026.
The field is spreading rather than concentrating. There is no consensus best restaurant in São Paulo, and the data now shows it.
What a São Paulo boteco is
The boteco is the format the city is built on. It is a bar with a kitchen, tiled floors, cold beer and plates meant for sharing.
It is not a tourist category. A good boteco is where a São Paulo neighbourhood eats on a weekday.
The guide behind the awards
The awards sit inside a 260-page special, O Melhor de São Paulo Gastronomia — Restaurantes, Bares e Cozinha 2026.
It also carries a separate feature listing 43 bars that serve good petiscos and full dishes. Petiscos are the small plates that a São Paulo bar lives on.
The two lists of 43 are different things in the same publication, and should not be read as one.
Fifteen editions makes this the longest-running dining award in the city. That continuity is most of its authority.
Why this matters if you have just arrived
São Paulo has more restaurants than any visitor can navigate, and the recommendations you get depend entirely on who you ask.
A jury list and a public poll disagreeing with each other is more useful than either alone. Between them they cover the room you want on a Tuesday and the one you book for a birthday.
Read the Datafolha list for where people actually go. Read the jury list for what the trade rates.
Background: Lula 39%, Flávio Bolsonaro 33% — Brazil’s Race in the July Polls.
Background: BRICS Just Got Bigger — Who’s In, Who’s Still Out, and Why It Matters.
Background: Brazil Economic Outlook 2026: Growth, Inflation, and Key Risks.
Frequently Asked Questions
When were the 2026 Folha dining awards announced?
On Monday 17 August 2026, at a ceremony in the Sala São Paulo. It is the fifteenth edition of the guide.
How are the winners chosen?
A jury of 45 journalists and content producers chose 43 winners. Datafolha separately surveyed São Paulo residents to produce 20 more.
Which restaurant won the first award?
Tordesilhas, run by chef Mara Salles, took the first prize of the night. Folha described it as a house that came to symbolise the case for Brazilian cooking in the city.
Which bar did best in the public vote?
Bar do Luiz Fernandes in the northern zone won three Datafolha categories. They were best boteco, best bar to eat at and best beer list.
Sources
This article was drafted with automated assistance and reviewed before publication. How we use AI · Report an error
Read More from The Rio Times