The Mercadão opened in 1933 in an Italianate brick hall with stained-glass windows of agricultural scenes — the building itself is half the reason to come. Downstairs is the working market: butchers, fishmongers, fruit-and-veg stalls, and a serious dried-cod section. Upstairs is a balcony of lanchonete-style food counters, and this is what the city visits the Mercadão for.
The two dishes to know about: the mortadella sandwich at Hocca Bar — a quarter-kilo of pink mortadella stacked between toasted Italian bread, an absurd portion and a São Paulo classic — and the pastel de bacalhau at Bar do Mané, deep-fried salt-cod pastry. The Mercadão is busy in a way that means you can wait twenty minutes for a counter seat at peak lunch; off-hours, or breakfast on a weekday morning, is the calmer option.