Restaurant in São Paulo, Brazil
Michelin-recognised comfort food, mall setting, $$.
Manioca holds a 2025 Michelin Bib Gourmand and sits inside the Iguatemi mall on Faria Lima — a combination that sounds unpromising but delivers some of the best value cooking in São Paulo. The informal offshoot of chef Helena Rizzo's Maní group, it serves Brazilian comfort food including the signature PF Manioca at a $$ price point that is hard to argue with. Easy to book, well-suited to solo and group lunches alike.
The common misconception about Manioca is that a shopping mall address and a casual price point mean a watered-down experience. That reading is wrong. Manioca holds a 2025 Michelin Bib Gourmand — recognition reserved for kitchens that deliver serious cooking at prices that don't require a justification conversation. At $$, it sits in the same tier as A Casa do Porco but with a direct lineage to one of São Paulo's most respected culinary groups: the Maní family of restaurants, built around chef Helena Rizzo. If you want to eat well in Faria Lima without committing to a full fine-dining spend, Manioca is the clearest recommendation in the area.
Manioca occupies the third floor of the Iguatemi shopping mall on Avenida Brigadeiro Faria Lima — a context that sounds deflating until you walk in. The space works visually: high ceilings, natural light filtering through plant-adorned windows, and enough square footage that the room breathes. This is not a cramped food-court compromise. The greenery along the windows creates a softer, less commercial atmosphere than you'd expect from a mall-anchored address. For explorers interested in the full São Paulo dining picture, see our full São Paulo restaurants guide for broader context on where Manioca sits in the city's range.
The menu is built around belisquetes (small bites and snacks), burgers cooked in a Josper oven, and the house speciality: the PF Manioca, a fillet steak served with a poached egg and roasted plantain. That dish is the clearest expression of the restaurant's positioning , comfort food executed with the precision you'd expect from a kitchen trained in the Maní tradition. The name Manioca itself is a portmanteau of Maní and Padoca, the group's bakery, which signals the intent: this is the group's informal, daily-use format rather than its showcase room. Fresh fruit juices feature prominently on the drinks side, which is consistent with the lighter, daytime-oriented tone of the offer.
Day-to-day cooking is led by chef Thais Alves Braga, who trained at leading restaurants across Brazil before taking the head role here. The kitchen's output reflects that grounding: this is Brazilian comfort food with technical foundations, not a dressed-down version of fine dining trying to look casual.
Manioca is a strong fit for food-focused travelers who want Michelin-recognised cooking without the formal dining commitment, business lunchers in the Faria Lima corridor who need reliability over spectacle, and anyone curious about the Maní group's cooking without spending at Maní itself. It is also a practical option when dining with people who have mixed appetites , the menu range from snacks to a proper mains-and-sides format accommodates varied ordering styles. Solo diners will find the room accessible and well-sized enough that eating alone does not feel performatively solitary.
For group occasions that don't require private dining, the scale of the space handles larger tables comfortably. The Bib Gourmand recognition gives it enough credibility to bring guests you want to impress without the price anxiety of a $$$$ booking. If your group genuinely needs a private room experience, the comparison set changes , Evvai and D.O.M. both serve that function at higher price points. Manioca's strength is its main room: open, bright, and unpretentious in a way that works for mixed groups who want quality without formality.
São Paulo's dining scene rewards the explorer willing to move across price tiers rather than anchoring at the leading. Michelin's Bib Gourmand list in the city is competitive , recognition here carries real weight. Beyond Manioca, the city's broader offer spans everything from the tasting menu ambition of Animus and the focused work at Nelita to neighbourhood spots like Petí Gastronomia. If you're building a broader Brazil itinerary, comparable levels of culinary seriousness at accessible price points appear at Manga in Salvador, Manu in Curitiba, and Lasai in Rio de Janeiro. For experiences further afield in Brazil, Mina in Campos do Jordão and Orixás North Restaurant in Itacaré offer distinctive regional perspectives worth adding to a longer trip. For those planning beyond restaurants, our guides to São Paulo hotels, bars, wineries, and experiences cover the full picture.
Address: Av. Brig. Faria Lima, 2.232 , 3º andar, Jardim Paulistano, São Paulo (inside Iguatemi shopping mall). Budget: $$ , among the most accessible Michelin-recognised options in the city. Booking difficulty: Easy , no advance planning required for most visits, though peak lunch periods in the Faria Lima business district may fill the room. Dress: No information available; the casual, open setting suggests smart-casual is appropriate. Hours: Not confirmed in available data , verify directly before visiting. Phone/Website: Not listed in available data; check Iguatemi mall listings or walk-in directly.
Yes, with the right expectations. Manioca's Michelin Bib Gourmand (2025) gives it enough credibility for a celebratory meal, and the connection to the Maní group adds a conversation-worthy provenance. At $$, it works well for occasions where quality matters more than ceremony , a birthday lunch, a client meal where you want to impress without overspending, or a celebration for guests who find formal tasting-menu formats exhausting. If the occasion demands a private room or a more theatrical setting, book D.O.M. or Evvai instead. Manioca's main room is the experience here, not a separate private dining product.
The menu includes options across snack, burger, and mains formats , the PF Manioca (steak, poached egg, roasted plantain) and the Josper-cooked burgers are the headline items. The available data doesn't confirm dedicated vegetarian or allergen menus. Given the kitchen's Brazilian comfort food focus, meat is central to most signature dishes. If dietary restrictions are a primary concern for your group, contact Iguatemi mall's venue listings directly, as no phone or website is available in current data. The menu breadth at least suggests flexibility for mixed groups.
Yes. The room's scale , high ceilings, natural light, plant-lined windows , means solo diners don't feel conspicuous. The price point at $$ keeps the spend modest, and the menu's snack-to-mains range works well for someone ordering without a group dynamic. São Paulo's Faria Lima corridor draws a professional lunch crowd, so solo dining here is entirely normal rather than unusual. For solo diners wanting more counter-focused or intimate formats in São Paulo, Animus is worth considering as an alternative tone of experience.
At $$, it is one of the strongest value propositions among Michelin-recognised restaurants in São Paulo. The Bib Gourmand is specifically awarded to venues where the inspectors consider the quality-to-price ratio exceptional , Manioca earned that in 2025. Compared to Maní at $$$ or D.O.M. and Evvai at $$$$, Manioca delivers a version of the same culinary lineage at a fraction of the spend. The honest caveat: you are getting comfort food in a mall setting, not a tasting menu. If that format matches what you want, the value is clear. If you need the full-service formal dining experience, spend up to Maní instead.
Three things worth knowing before you go. First, don't be put off by the Iguatemi mall address , the third-floor space is a proper restaurant with natural light and real atmosphere, not a food-court experience. Second, the PF Manioca (fillet steak, poached egg, roasted plantain) is the dish the kitchen is most associated with and the logical starting point for a first visit. Third, booking is easy , this is not a hard reservation to secure, so last-minute planning is workable, though peak Faria Lima lunch hours will be busier. Google reviews sit at 4.5 across 3,568 ratings, which is a reliable signal for a consistently well-run kitchen rather than a hyped outlier.
| Venue | Cuisine | Price | Booking Difficulty |
|---|---|---|---|
| Manioca | Modern Cuisine | $$ | Easy |
| D.O.M. | Modern Brazilian, Creative | $$$$ | Unknown |
| Evvai | Contemporary Italian, Modern Cuisine | $$$$ | Unknown |
| Maní | Brazilian - International, Creative | $$$ | Unknown |
| Jun Sakamoto | Sushi, Japanese | $$$ | Unknown |
| A Casa do Porco | Regional Brazilian, Brazilian | $$ | Unknown |
Side-by-side comparison to help you decide where to book.
It depends on what the occasion calls for. If you want Michelin-recognised cooking in a relaxed setting — high ceilings, natural light, no dress code pressure — Manioca works well for a birthday lunch or a celebratory meal that does not require ceremony. For a formal dinner with full tasting-menu ritual, Maní (the group's flagship) is the better call. Manioca's $$ price point and Bib Gourmand status make it the right choice when the occasion is about the food, not the theatre.
The menu spans belisquetes, Josper-cooked burgers, and a signature fillet steak dish, so there are options across formats — but confirmed allergen or dietary accommodation policies are not documented in available venue data. check the venue's official channels before booking if restrictions are a deciding factor. The Maní group's track record of considered, ingredient-led cooking suggests a kitchen that is attentive, though that can change without direct verification.
Yes — arguably one of the better solo lunch options on the Faria Lima corridor. The Iguatemi mall setting removes the awkwardness of arriving alone at a destination restaurant, the $$ pricing keeps the bill manageable, and the snack-forward belisquetes format lets you order at your own pace without committing to a tasting sequence. The high-ceiling, plant-lined room also makes for a comfortable extended sit.
At $$, yes — it is one of the most accessible ways to eat within the Maní group's orbit, and the 2025 Michelin Bib Gourmand confirms the value-to-quality ratio holds. You are getting Josper-cooked proteins and a kitchen led by Thais Alves Braga, who trained across leading Brazilian restaurants before taking this role. For comparable Michelin recognition in São Paulo, A Casa do Porco also sits at an accessible price tier but runs a very different, pork-focused format — Manioca is the stronger choice if you want the Maní group's comfort-food register.
It is on the third floor of the Iguatemi shopping mall at Av. Brig. Faria Lima, 2.232 — do not let that put you off. The room reads as a proper restaurant, not a food court. The PF Manioca (fillet steak, poached egg, roasted plantain) is the dish most associated with the kitchen and the logical first order. Budget $$ per head and plan for lunch or a mid-day meal; hours are not confirmed, so check current opening times before traveling.
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