Sushinho

Brazilian-Japanese cuisine may seem like a random relationship, but São Paulo has the largest Japanese population outside Japan. At Sushinho, oriental design (sleek dark wood, bamboo walls) combined with exposed brick, textured canvas, and palm trees, set the stage for sushi to samba.

We looked to our waiter for guidance. He seemed, however, only trained to push mundane fillers (edamame, miso soup) and didn't seem to have detailed menu knowledge.

Trendy young couples around us were taking advantage of the Monday-night half-price sushi platters, but we wanted to go full fusion and so ordered the house specials. Sweet-potato gyoza (delicious crisp dumplings stuffed with creamy mash topped with truffles) were promptly polished off.

Slow-cooked pork belly, nestled in feijoada-style black bean purée and spiced with chilli mango, looked beautiful, yet tasted muted and arrived lukewarm.

Aubergine shigiyaki scored highly on the weirdness scale: a pot of aubergine and fried-tofu slivers stewed in tomato sauce and topped with melted mozzarella.

But, after the first few suspicious bites, we found it strangely addictive. So, a hit and miss menu, but with plenty to fascinate.