There is always a first time and so in Michelin Guide 2026, among the 156 restaurants from around the world to have obtained the maximum score, the famous "3 Stars", there are for the first time two restaurants from Latin America. To be precise, these are two restaurants, both Brazilian and both from São Paulo, one of the cities in the world with the most varied and high-quality gastronomic offerings, so much so that just recently the 50 Top Pizza 2026 ranking decreed that the best pizza on the continent is also eaten in the Brazilian metropolis, at the Leggera pizzeria which ranked first.
The two restaurants that have been awarded 3 stars for the first time are Tuju, located in the chic Itaim Bibi neighborhood, and Evvai, in the Pinheiros area and whose name already clearly recalls an Italian origin. And indeed it is: the 37 year old chef Luiz Filipe Souza has origins in our country and trained at Reale Casadonna in Castel di Sangro, the restaurant of the three-starred chef Niko RomitoSouza opened Evvai in 2017 and earned his first Michelin star at just 30 years old, also representing Brazil at the prestigious Bocuse d'Or competition in Lyon, France, in 2019, where he reached the final.
“Modern, creative and with Italian roots”, this is how Souza defines himself and his Evvai. In his haute cuisine restaurant, the young and award-winning chef explores his origins and It highlights the cultural exchange born from Italian immigration to Brazil and the gastronomy that resulted from it., practicing what he likes to call "Oriundi cuisine." Thus, the tasting menu features oysters, gourmet bruschetta, and interesting fusion dishes such as "rigatoni with pupunha, açaì, and almonds," or "cod and tucupì cappuccino," as well as "cassava, passion fruit butter, and melipona honey." And let's not forget the "tortellini stuffed with Brazilian chestnuts, juniper, and mushrooms."
Evvai's tasting menu costs 1.250 reais, about 200 euros per person, less than Tuju's, which costs 1.500 reais. Opened in 2014, São Paulo's other 3-star restaurant bases its menu on ingredients that vary with the seasons and rainfall. This fine-dining cuisine is overseen by Chef Ivan Ralston, 41, trained at the Hosteleria Hofman school in Barcelona and who has already worked in starred restaurants such as Mugaritz in the Basque Country and RiuGyn in Japan.
