Santos eats well. As a port city it has a long seafood tradition, and as a São Paulo overflow it has absorbed the cosmopolitan tastes of the big city next door. Look for moqueca (seafood stew in coconut milk and palm oil), fried whole fish, prawn dishes, and the Portuguese-Brazilian classics — bacalhau, feijoada, and rice with linguiça.
The lively eating-out concentration is in Gonzaga along the seafront; for something quieter and more ambitious, head to the historic centre, where restored mansions have been converted into restaurants.