It first opened in 1954, and since then little has changed in this frozen-in-time bistro – which is no bad thing. The service is friendly and charming, and the food is good, solid, bourgeois cooking. The menu doesn’t pander or dumb down, though – there are classics like tripes à la mode de Caen and kidneys in beaujolais wine feature on the menu, alongside the well-cooked lamb and the tried-and-tested coq au vin. It’s worth spending a little time walking round the neighbourhood by day (be careful in the area after nightfall) to enjoy the small flower market nearby, and to get a flavour of the way São Paulo was before the wreckers’ balls took over.