Pato Rei goes beyond coffee on a trip inspired by oriental cuisine

Acclaimed by lovers of specialty coffees, the small house located on Rua Ferreira de Araújo hardly attracts the attention of those who pass through the region, which has become famous for its gastronomy. But Pato Rei, which started out dedicated to rare coffees and cold extraction, gradually developed its menu and became an attraction that deserves to be highlighted among the good restaurants in Pinheiros.

From a menu with creative and surprising coffees and desserts, it became part of the city’s good brunch program, started preparing complete meals throughout the day and currently allows for an interesting journey through flavors with different oriental inspirations.

Given the name of the place, it’s not much of a surprise that the dish that helped justify the restaurant’s recognition is duck karê (R$82). The bird’s breast is served fried and thinly sliced ​​over a Japanese-inspired curry sauce with baniwa pepper from the Amazon. The meat is soft and delicious, the skin is crunchy, and goes well with the intensely flavored sauce and white rice that accompanies it.

The okonomiyaki (R$36), presented as the star of the brunch, is like a pancake with a varied texture and strong flavor. Prepared with cabbage and other vegetables, it is dry and with toasted touches. It comes with a sweet and sour coating, with good acidity and slightly smoked, reminiscent of a very delicate barbecue sauce. The only thing missing is katsuobushi, dried bonito fish shavings that usually dance on the plate in Japanese izakayas, increasing the umami content.

A poster on the cafeteria’s wall indicates that the omuraissu (R$42) is another of the highlights. The dish famous on social media and popularized in São Paulo by the Korean Komah comes with fried rice with kimchi (as well as pork, mushroom or tomato) and topped with a “perfect” omelet, the menu announces. The dish is really very tasty, but the egg served did not come as promised and arrived almost without creaminess and without falling apart over the rice as the photos promise – even though it was delicious and combined with the good rice (which could have been spicier) .

The disappointment at a recent lunch was the katsu sando (R$40). The breaded pork sandwich arrived with dry meat and little flavor. The frying coating seemed to disappear, and the bread was also dry, ruining the experience. What saved it was the pickle accompaniment, which the menu itself says is important to eat with it.

But the arrival of desserts helped to redeem any previous failure. The most famous in the house is the one with salt in my caramel (R$ 14) and mixes a base of buttery biscuit, creamy caramel, semi-sweet chocolate topping and pinches of fleur de sel. Full of complexity and contrasts, it goes beyond sugar and has been compared to a twix, very reminiscent of what the English know as millionaire shortbread

In addition, the lemon bar (R$ 24) also combines several layers of textures (cake and pie) and flavors with a sour touch (lemon and cupuaçu), finishing with a burnt sugar topping.

The sweets may be worth a visit for those who are still looking for the café profile that gave rise to the establishment, but they do not overshadow the many very interesting options for a complete meal at any time of the day there.