Mocotó

Totally lived up to the hype. Had the fried tapioca cubes — delish!, the caldo de mocotó — very good!, the carne de sol with farofa and potato purée — star of the meal!, rapadura ice cream — omg!, and the tapioca pudgim– holy smokes! Great Brazilian experience. Please go if you have the chance.

I have been living in Sao Pualo for almost 12 years and Mocotó has been one of those restaurants that was always too far away and everyone used to say that its always busy, there are long lines and so on… so my laziness had been getting the better of me all these years.
When our CM, Fernanda S. took it upon her to make a trip to Mocotó of lunch on a slow Monday, I decided to jump onto the bandwagon — so together with ‘out-​of-​towners’ Lana Z. & Vinicius L. we met our esteemed area Unilocaler Fabio S. for lunch and oh boy ! I kicked myself for not going there before. We got there at around 12:15, just before the lunch rush hour and were able to abe a decent table for all 5 of us.
We started with the classic ‘mandioca chips’ and ‘dadinhos de tapioca’ — absolutely fantastic ! I normally ask for extra hot sauce but even the sauce that came with these ‘dadinhos’ was perfect — I could have eaten like a dozen more but there was more to try. We ordered a portion of ‘Linguiça com Cebola Roxa e Cachaça’ & a medium ‘Baião-​de-​dois’ and we were able to share it well among all 5 of us — the portions are really generous and are meant to be shared. To round up the gastronomy fest, we ordered several desserts — ‘Crème Brullé de Doce de Leite e Umburana’, ‘Bolo de Chocolate com Cupuaçu e Castanha-​do-​Pará’, ‘Gelado de Frutas — Umbu’ & ‘Sorvete de Rapadura’ — I would be extremely naïve if I tried to pick a favourite. Everything was extremely well made, well served and absolutely delicious. It really gets hard to ge better than this when it comes to local cuisine.
I used to think Mocotó was overrated and one fine day I was made to eat my words — I have not been to such a nice local cuisine restaurant in ages — the whole ambient is so simple, so down-​to-​earth and yet there is a high degree of sophistication in the dishes that are served. Chef Rodrigo Oliveira does complete justice to his reputation as one of Brazil’s finest and politest chefs — I have no option but to return to this wonderful place called Mocotó.several times more.
Kudos !!

Mocotó is a long drive from our apartment because it’s so far from the city’s center, but it was worth the drive.
The food is delicious and the service is very efficient.
We had to wait about 30 minutes to be seated because Mocotó does not take reservations.
Based on the recommendations of other Unilocalers, we shared the Pirarucu fish and the sun dried meat, both of which were yummy. We also liked the deep fried dumplings.

Food — 5
Cost — 5
Service — 5
Design — 4
My second time here and they always deliver what I heard about them and a little bit more. But beware! Having high expectations about something will most probably make you disappoint. Be just.
Starting from their food. Awesome. It really is tasteful and different from any other restaurant I’ve been. The seasoning, the cooking, the ingredients… I can’t say for sure because I’m not an expert, but there is something about it. Everytime I visit this restaurant, I keep eating even if I’m full.
A must should be «dadinho de tapioca». Famous and worthy.
Combined with their tastefulness, there is cost, which is pretty cheap compared to what we have around São Paulo. Here, you can eat until you drop and pay the same amount you would pay in a fancy restaurant. One of the cost benefit I’ve ever seen.
Of course, we can’t ignore their service. Every waiter and waitress I’ve ever been served, were kind, helpful, available, thoughtful and friendly. I mean, I am myself a friendly guy, but they always responded with kindness as well. Recepcionist, cashier. All included.
The place reminds us about «nordeste brasileiro» (brazilian northeast). The music, their decoration, the walls and some other details takes us to a little trip.
Although far from where I live and crowded right after opening (although, I have always came here in holidays), this is a place I will always want to go back.

One of the best restaurants of São Paulo. They are specialized in the regional cuisine of the northeast of Brazil.
Start trying their tapas like torresmo (crackling bacon) and dadinhos de tapioca (cassava cubes with a type of cheese similar to halloumi).For main course we had sun dried meat with cassava chips and the tasty Pirarucu fish (one of the greatest fresh water fish of the world), it’s so full of flavor that you won’t regret and never forget the taste! For the dessert go for the classical with a regional touch! Crème Brullé de Doce de Leite e Umburana (cremme brullé with dulce de leche and umburana, an aromatic tropical plant).

Excellent ‘fancy’ Brasilian food particularly from the north. More of a rare treat to find a Brasilian restaurant with a bit of a flare if you are wanting something different to the botecos you find in the street. All the food is delicious and would recommend coming with friends so you try as many of the dishes as you can. The only downside is the location; very far from the city and the inevitable wait. It is worth the trip at least once if you are in SP.

Excellent food! It’s very casual, even though it can get pricey. Unpretentious. The only downside is that they were very, very slow with drink refills. BONUS: They serve Caipirinha! It’s is a traditional Brazilian drink thats *usually* made with liquor, and an ensemble of fruits and spices. They indulged me, and made mine with lemon/​lime soda instead. It tasted great!

This place is a neighborhood bar very isolated from the main business areas of the city.
Super busy but worth the wait and the distance if you want to have real Brazilian food.
We got a number so we could order at the bar. They had sample portions which allowed me to have a few items on the menu.
I had mocotó, sarapatel, bolinho do dia (daily special), and dadinho de tapioca.
The bolinho was delish! The drink was well executed, a jaboticaba and lime caipirinha. I also had tubaina, a cheap soda that you usually find in the countryside.
Food and drinks were good but I would not come back due to the distance to the city centre. On the other hand I would recommend anyone who visiting São Paulo to try as they do real Brazilian food catered to locals. Prices were decent.

I stopped in for a quick drink and tapas before heading to the airport. I would have never known about this place if it wasnt for my Unilocalmigo Fernanda S. Overall had a good time… good beer and drinks… good service… good food… check it out if you are in the neighborhood.

Mocotó is crazy, crazy good! Despite of the long drive and wait line from hell, it is all worth it, seriously! While I had to wait, I went straight to the bar, and drank a caju com morango (cashew fruit + strawberry) caipirinha, and a shot of an aged cachaça, and ordered some finger foods:
Dadinhos de Tapioca: Cubinhos de tapioca com queijo-​de-​coalho dourados e servidos com molho de pimenta agridoce. (Translation, tapioca flour mixed in with cheese shaped into cubes, than fried and served with a sweet, sour, and spicy dipping sauce.) — Really good! Great presentation, simple ingredients, great texture, and fun to eat!
Torresminhos: Nossos torresmos ainda mais crocantes e sequinhos, petiscos perfeitos. (homemade chicharrones.) — It’s chicharrones, freshly made, pig love.
Carne Seca (salt beef) — Interestingly soft and great taste to it.
So, after endulging on my drinks and eating all these appetizers, time flew and it was time to move to my table. I wonder why time went by so quick…
For lunch:
Feijão-​de-​Corda: Feijão novo preparado com lingüiça, bacon, carne-​seca e manteiga-​de-​garrafa. (beans stew, bacon, salt beef, sausages, homemade butter) — this bean stew’s broth is very light compared to a feijoada, it’s stuffed with salt beef, bacon, sausages, and «manteiga de garrafa», which is very close to Indian Ghee, resulting in bold flavors, and no need to order rice to go along; every table, has it’s own farinha to eat along with every stew, or whatever you’d like to eat with. One medium serving was enough to feed a couple people.
Asinha de Pintado: Nadadeiras de pintado levemente empanadas na tapioca e servidas com maionese de limão-​cravo e pimenta-​de-​cheiro — Imagine chicken wings, now forget them, and think about fish wings, that’s right, fish wings! There is more meat and great quality meat that I’d imagined, very crispy and dry, but the fish nugget itself, really tender, moist, and full of flavor!
Overall, this place is awesome and I wish it was closer to me, but the long wait, and the trip going there is totally worth it! Prices are reasonable, booze is strong, and service is lovely.

You will not regret it. The food is fantastic and the caipirinhas are delicious! Make sure to arrive early. On weekends there wait could be up to almost 2 hours!

Not much to add that hasn’t been said already… fantastic «roots» Brazilian food in great atmosphere at very reasonable price. The Baiao de Dois with a side of Mocofava drizzled on top is so fantastically good I get it every time. Don’t forget to bring some hot sauce home with you either. Oh yeah, the rapadura ice cream is also friekin’ amazing.

A memorable dinner. Enjoyed the cachaca taster. Make the effort to eat here. It’s a tad of the way from downtown but well worth the drive. We actually invited our taxi driver to have dinner with us so we could insure a ride back to the hotel.

Mocoto is where you can find ‘the best’ of a lot of brasilian food. «the best caipirihna, the best escondidiho,» and a few things you haven’t even heard of yet. If you don’t have a car, it’s going to be hard to get to Mocoto since it’s located in the north of Sao Paulo near Guarulhos airport. However, if you can make it there you’ll definitely enjoy it. When you show up, they are going to give you a wait time of 2 hours. The couple we went with told us that they have never actually eaten inside. Every time they go they end up filing up while they wait. We ended up getting a table after about an hour and by the time we sat down, we weren’t hungry anymore. If you only read one thing on this review let it be this:
ORDER the Dadinhos de Tapioca!

simplesmente sensacional. tudo.