Jardins region experiences Japanese explosion with new restaurants, shops and bars in SP

Roughly speaking, a Japanese garden represents in miniature the grandeur and beauty of nature in a delimited space. In São Paulo, there is almost that — a kind of Gardens of Japan, a circuit that concentrates Japanese cuisine within the region in the capital of São Paulo.

From breakfast to nightcap, with a maximum distance of 2.5 kilometers or half an hour’s walk, in this part of the west side of the city you can find a coffee shop, sake shops, fine dining, typical pubs, a ramen house, an emporium, a pastry shop. and even karaoke. Some of them brand new.

The youngest on the route is Motchimu, a mix of confectionery and tea house that is scheduled to open on Monday, October 3rd. Among the versions of moti, the glutinous rice sweet cake, there are cocoa-based versions from small producers in the Amazon, vegan alternatives and those made with adzuki or white bean jam.

The sweets have been handmade by Suzana Murakami for over two decades. At first, she prepared the recipes at Kinoshita, a restaurant that passed from her father to her husband, Tsuyoshi Murakami, the performer and award-winning sushiman who currently runs a house named after her in Jardins.

“When I was little in Hokkaido, Japan, moti was dipped in dashi. It wasn’t sweet, but it’s a sweet memory,” says Suzana. Dashi is a typical broth of Japanese cuisine.

“Customers have always tried to order the sweets”, says Jun Murakami — at age 20, he is the couple’s son who will run the sweets house. “The idea is to provide a ritual. In front of a Speto graffiti, the motis come in dishes also made by my mother and harmonize with Japanese matchas infused in Italian water.”

Urban art also appears on a panel signed by Revolue at Goya Zushi, which has been open since Tuesday, the 20th. “Like a jazz show, the cuisine follows a note, but has freedom of creation. That’s what I learned in Japan and what I’ve always wanted to do”, reveals Uilian Goya, who runs the house.

“I don’t have a menu, but I follow the ancestral methods — I have the raw, the cooked, the fried, the stew and I always finish with a stronger dish, with rice, miso shiro and tsukemono [conservas típicas]like in Japan”, he explains.

220 meters from Goya is Nishiki Sake, opened this year by Roberto Yoshioka Tadashi, who owns two izakayas, a typical Japanese bar, in Hiroshima and which has more than 150 labels of artisanal sake imported from Japan on the shelves of his São Paulo outlet. .

“We only buy from those who produce the drink with the devotion it deserves”, says Tadashi, who has 48 exclusive suppliers.

Until you get to Mega Sake, a direct competitor of Nishiki, it’s 11 blocks. On the way is We Coffee, an instagrammable coffee shop always full of lines. A less troubled option is the Daruma Emporium. Since April, the fifth-floor café has been serving desserts by chef Cesar Yukio.

The path also reserves the Quito Quito, by Kaori Muranaka. Born in the Japanese archipelago of Ogasawara, she started her izakaya in Vila Madalena, but moved in 2016 to a street populated by all-you-can-eat sushi in Jardins. Today, the cuisine of its mixed restaurant and bar is a reference in the neighborhood.

It is worth mentioning that, when Quito Quito closes, Muranaka usually takes a few steps and ends the night at Donchan. There, she dives into karaoke with friends, accompanied by cold beer and snacks typical of her home country.

If there’s still breath left, the neighborhood boasts two more Japanese strongholds. The Tonkotsu Barikote Ramen Maru is a cubicle for eight people that features a dense pork broth that can come with black sesame oil, kaedama (thin, homemade pasta), marinated egg and pancetta.

Two blocks up, chef Telma Shiraishi makes the award-winning Aizomê a true gastronomic embassy of Japan.

If it is an exaggeration to say that Jardins is a new freedom, it is true that, at least in food and drink, the region has an Asian accent of its own.

Oriental route in the Gardens

aizome

Al. Fernão Cardim, 39, Instagram @aizomerestaurante

Donchan

R. Batataes, 380A, Instagram @izakayadonchan

Daruma Emporium

R. Augusta, 1917, Instagram @emporiodaruma

goya zushi

Al. Franca, 1.151, Instagram @goyazushi

mega sake

Al. Joaquim Eugênio de Lima, 1416, Instagram @megasake

mochimu

R. Melo Alves, 303, Instagram @motchimu

Murakami

Al. Lorena, 1186, Instagram @restaurantemurakami

Nishiki Sake

Al. Tietê, 185, Instagram @nishiki_sake

Quito Quito

Al. Campinas, 1179, tel. (11) 3586-4730

Tonkotsu Barikote Ramen Maru

R. José Maria Lisboa, 118, Instagram @tonkotsulovers

We Coffee

Al. Lorena, 1682, Instagram @wecoffee.br