Head right through the elegant lobby of the Fasano hotel to the eponymous restaurant – a grand atrium awash with black marble and dark wood in an unmistakeable, classic 1930s style. Created by the architects Isay Weinfeld and Márcio Kogan, the studious attention to detail here covers everything from the furniture – Weinfeld is reported to have made eight overseas trips with the owner, Rogério Fasano, to source the perfect pieces – to the lighting: a large, retractable skylight lets natural light in during the day while in the evening, uplights on the wall and art deco tabletop lamps make for an intimate feel.

The best dishes, which don't come cheap, include the silky, perfumed raviolini d’Anitra al profumo d’arancia (R$99) – pasta filled with duck meat and orange sauce, an inspired deconstruction influenced by the classic French canard à l’orange – and the costoletta di vitello alla Milanese (veal Milanese, R$113), a classic dish that's been on the menu here since the distant ’90s, when the Italian chef Luciano Boseggia was at the helm.