There's a real buzz about São Paulo. With 19 million inhabitants this huge and sprawling metropolis is not only the third largest city in the world but a remarkably cosmopolitan one, and that makes for very good eating indeed. The vibrant food culture is bolstered by a large Italian and Middle Eastern community, and there's an even larger Japanese population (SP is home to the largest Japanese community outside Japan). So unsurprisingly you'll find great pizzas and stellar sushi. But there's also an up-and-coming wave of young Brazilian chefs who are cooking up a storm and bringing modern techniques to bear on traditional dishes. For the foodie, São Paulo is a very exciting city indeed.

1. Restaurante Figueira Rubaiyat

A large and elegant restaurant where you get to eat outdoors, indoors! The dining room is built around an enormous fig tree and huge branches have been glassed in. Inventive architecture and interesting food. Very good fish and seafood (including Brazilian fish like the Tucunaré, Tambaqui and Pirarucu) plus serious steaks. A traditional feijoada - the heavy pork and black bean stew that is the national dish - is the special on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Very slick service and upper-middling prices.

• Rua Haddock Lobo, 1738, (Jd. Paulista), +55 11 3087 1399, rubaiyat.com.br/figueira

2. Speranza

It is said that every day a million pizzas are eaten in São Paulo and when you've seen the number and variety of pizza houses it rings true. Speranza opened its doors over 50 years ago and is still the pizza place of choice for discerning Paulistas. The margherita is the house speciality but everything stands up - good value and good pizzas fresh from the ovens.

• Rua 13 de Maio 1004, +55 11 3288 8502

3. Sky Bar, Unique Hotel

The Unique Hotel is shaped like a giant boat. Brave architecture and design are a feature of Brazil and this imposing building is truly striking. Take the lift to the roof and the Sky bar for some research into the caipirinha - Brazil's most famous cocktail. There's an amazing terrace complete with loungers, a pool and a stunning view of the city. At the heart of the true caipirinha is cachaça - a vicious spirit made from sugar cane. The Sky bar also makes a variant of the famed cocktail using sake, but it's not as strong or as good as the original.

• Av. Brigadeiro Luis Antonio 4700, +55 11 3055 4710, hotelunique.com.br

4. Tenda do Nilo

This place is very much off the beaten track, a small family-run restaurant serving Arabic food. Good dips. Good bread. Good chopped salads. The most amazing falafel - impressively light and digestible. Also fatte, a Lebanese dish combining mince, chick peas, bread and yoghurt. Accompany these delicacies with a cold beer. Charmingly bossy service from the lady of the house, and great value.

• Rua Coronel Oscar Porto 638, +55 11 3885 0460

5. Dalva e Dito

This bright and ambitious new restaurant only opened in January, so it is still a fledgling. D e D is the brainchild of Alex Atala (of the highly respected D.O.M. which made it into Restaurant magazine's 50 Best Restaurants in the World list) and chef Alain Poleto. Their culinary mission is to take traditional Brazilian home cooking and refine it. So you may be served a moqueca (an Afro-Brazilian casserole) containing fresh fish and shellfish cooked in palm oil and coconut milk - very rich and very creamy. Or an ultra-slow cooked saddle of lamb - exceptionally tender. Or how about a chocolate and priprioca mousse? Priprioca is an Amazonian root that tastes rather like patchouli. This is an upscale restaurant (with prices to match) serving the kind of food that would earn a Michelin star or two if it were sited in Europe.

• Rua Padre Jo‹o Manuel, 1.115 (Jardins), +55 11 3062 6282, dalvaedito.com.br

6. Benjamin Abrahão Bakery

Most mornings, Paulistas wander down to the bakery for a coffee and a little something. There are several branches of the Benjamin Abrahão bakery but the one in the fashionable Jardins district has a particularly pretty first-floor terrace. Linger over really good coffee and juices, pastries and croissants - the cheese croissant is particularly popular. Friendly service.

• Rua Jose Maria Lisboa, 1.397, Jardins, +55 11 3061 4004, benjaminabrahao.com.br

7. Restaurante Fasano

For over a century, the Fasano family have been at the heart of the hospitality industry in São Paulo. Now they have a number of hotels and restaurants across Brazil. Their boutique hotel on the Rua Vittorio Fasano is relentlessly chic and the hotel of choice for supermodels attending SP fashion week in January. The restaurant occupies a cavernous room and is very formal. Expect classic Italian pasta dishes; fine wines; sophisticated service and a large bill!

• Rua Vittorio Fasano 88, 0114-020, (Jd. Paulista), +55 11 3062 4000, fasano.com.br

8. Frangó

This bar/restaurant is five or six kilometres from the centre of town but it's worth the journey. It specialises in beer and there are over 250 different brews to choose from. Try some of the Brazilian beers from small local breweries like the Colorado Indica IPA. Then tuck into the snacks which are legendary: the house special is the coxinha - a small, pear- shaped croquette with a crisp outside and mixture of chicken and cheese within. Seriously good. Also the "porção de torresmo" - freshly cooked crackling, or pork scratchings by any other name! Just the thing to go with that bucket of beer. Friendly place, easy prices.

• Largo da Matriz Nossa Sra do Ó, 168 Freguesia do Ó, +55 11 3932 4818, frangobar.com.br

9. Consulado Mineiro

Brazil is an enormous country with various distinct cuisines. This small and very busy restaurant celebrates the cooking of the state of Minas Gerais. Huge dishes (they are mainly for two people to share) come to table with traditional accompaniments. At the weekend, look out for rabada com agrião - this is a mega-rich stew based on oxtail and watercress served with a corn porridge that is a first cousin to polenta. Beware, this restaurant stocks 97 different cachaças!

• Praça Benedito Calixto, 74 - Pinheiros, , +55 11 3088 6055, consuladomineiro.com.br

10. Kinoshita

There are 1.5 million people of Japanese origin living in SP so it should come as no surprise that there are hundreds of Japanese restaurants, from excellent cheap sushi joints to high-end places like this one. Kinoshita has won numerous Brazilian accolades and operates at the very highest level. If you want a benchmark, think Nobu, and were this restaurant in Europe it would certainly be Michelin starred. The more cutting edge dishes – like seared foie gras - are underpinned by ultra-fresh, ultra-traditional nigiri sushi and whisper-thin crisp tempura. The presentation is elegant in the extreme - for once you really do get a "picture on each plate". Expensive but worth it.

• Rua da Gloria 168, +55 11 3105 4903, restaurantekinoshita.com.br

• Further information on Brazil at braziltour.com