Casa do Porco, 12th best in the world, has a tasting menu for R$290; see the menu

Casa do Porco, a restaurant by chefs Janaina and Jefferson Rueda in downtown São Paulo, was elected the 12th best in the world by the 50 Best, an award considered the Oscar of global gastronomy.

This is the best performance by a Brazilian restaurant in the ranking. The house dropped five positions compared to last year, when it reached seventh place, its best position. In 2019, when it made its debut on the list, it was ranked 39th.

The award was announced this Tuesday, the 20th, at an event in Spain. The ranking, organized by the English publisher William Reed, was prepared by 1,080 judges and specialists in the gastronomic sector, from 27 different regions of the world.

The São Paulo restaurant, which highlights preparations made with pork grown in an artisanal slaughterhouse owned by the Ruedas, launched a new tasting menu this year. Named “Somos de Carne e Osso”, it costs R$ 290 per person and is a suggestion to try the main recipes of the house. For an additional R$210, you can pair it with drinks.

Consisting of eight stages, it begins with a selection of handcrafted sausages, such as slices of copa, guanciale and lardo, accompanied by crunchy cassava with roast pork and polenta with pork liver.

Then a small toy truck arrives at the table with miniature versions of bologna, ham and sausage sandwiches. A novelty is the barbecue made with free-range pork of its own rearing, from the mixture of the Canastra and Mora breeds. The cut changes according to availability, but it is always served with smoked icing and pupunha heart of palm salad.

Other dishes include pork tartare with radish, pork ossobuco with onion soup and, for dessert, papaya cream with caramel and jabuticaba ice cream.

From the à la carte menu, a tip is to order the house’s flagship, the San Zé pork. Priced at R$92, it is roasted on the grill for six to eight hours and served with seasonal ingredients that come from the chefs’ garden and a variety of rices that alternate on the menu.

Sausages, pastas, salads and sandwiches complete the menu. In the vegan and vegetarian section, there is the mushroom sushi with black tucupi and nori (R$42, with four) and the cheese crackling with guava and red onion pickles (R$44, with six)

The restaurant has been popular since its inauguration in 2015. To guarantee a place, the tip is to make a reservation at linktr.ee/acasadoporcobar.