Michelin Announces 2019 Stars for Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo

Today, the French tire company with a fleet of dining inspectors revealed the 2019 Michelin stars for Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. There are three new restaurants among the starred selections, but as was the case in 2018, the guide features just 18 total restaurants with stars. For the fifth year running, no restaurants in Brazil earned Michelin’s highest three-star honor.

The new additions all appear in the one-star category. In Rio de Janeiro, Cipriani, an Italian restaurant helmed by Neapolitan chef Nello Cassese, and tasting menu venue Oteque (both Eater essentials) earned stars for the first time. São Paulo’s Evvai, another modern Italian restaurant, rounds out the new starred selections, bringing the total number of one-star restaurants to 15 (five in Rio and 10 in São Paulo).

The 2018 two-star level restaurants retained their status this year. They include chef Alex Atala’s D.O.M. and Tuju from chef Ivan Ralston. Both focus on serving indigenous Brazilian ingredients in São Paulo. Essential Rio restaurant Oro, led by chef Felipe Bronze, remains the only two-star restaurant in that city.

The guide is a bit thicker than the starred selections let on: It also includes the cities’ Bib Gourmand restaurants, offering “good quality, good value cooking.” This year there are 32, including seven new spots.

Much of Brazil’s culinary heft, according to Michelin, lies in São Paulo, which boasts 39 starred and Bib Gourmand selections, compared to Rio’s 11. Click through for the full list of Michelin stars for Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo.

• Michelin Guide Rio de Janeiro & São Paulo 2019 Selection [Michelin]