Michelin Announces 2018 Stars for Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo

This week, fine dining guidebook Michelin revealed the 2018 stars for Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. It’s the the fourth year Michelin is covering Brazil and the fourth year the tire company awarded no restaurants three stars, Michelin’s highest honor. But, for the first time since the guide debuted, Alex Atala’s São Paulo restaurant D.O.M. has some company at the two-star level.

Michelin awarded two new restaurants two stars this year. Essential São Paulo restaurant Tuju earned a second star, up from one last year. Like Atala’s groundbreaking D.O.M., the restaurant, led by chef Ivan Ralston, focuses on indigenous Brazilian ingredients. Avant-garde restaurant Oro, led by chef Felipe Bronze, was also bumped up from one star to two, making it the first restaurant in Rio de Janeiro to have two Michelin stars.

There are 18 total starred selections in the 2018 guide, down one from last year, and two restaurants are new to the list with one star each. Newly starred Kaiseki restaurant Ryo Gastronomia and Tangará Jean-Georges, part of Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s massive, international empire, are emblematic of Michelin’s preference for Japanese cuisine and fine dining with French roots. Both restaurants are in São Paulo.

In total, there are 14 starred restaurants in São Paulo and just four in Rio de Janeiro, a city about half the size of São Paulo. The guide also includes 33 more affordable Bib Gourmand selections (25 in São Paulo and eight in Rio de Janeiro), including four new restaurants.

• MICHELIN Guide Launch: Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo 2018 [Michelin]