São Paulo has the best food scene in South America. The city is built on immigration — Italian, Japanese, Lebanese, Portuguese — and every wave brought its kitchen with it. The Japanese diaspora alone runs to a million and a half people, the largest outside Japan, and Liberdade has izakaya and ramen on the level of mid-priced Tokyo. The fine-dining scene reaches international standards at places like D.O.M., Maní, and A Casa do Porco. The cheap end runs from the lanchonete pão-de-queijo counter on every corner to the padarias that bake fresh bread morning and afternoon.
The neighbourhoods to focus on: Jardins for upmarket dining, Vila Madalena and Pinheiros for younger and more inventive kitchens, Liberdade for Japanese, Bixiga for old-school Italian, the Mercado Municipal downtown for the legendary mortadella sandwich and pastel de bacalhau. The drink to know about is the caipirinha — São Paulo is the working capital of Brazilian cachaça, and almost every bar does a serious version.