Brazil has its first three-star restaurants. Per Michelin's announcement of April 13, 2026, Evvai — led by chef Luiz Filipe Souza — and Tuju, under chef Ivan Ralston, both in São Paulo, were awarded three Michelin stars at the Rio de Janeiro & São Paulo 2026 ceremony held at the Copacabana Palace in Rio, a milestone for both the country and Latin America. The 2026 selection counts 136 restaurants in total, and 24 across Brazil now hold stars.
This article reports on an award announcement; it publishes information, not booking or travel-purchase advice.
Why the three-star debut matters
Until this ceremony, no Latin American restaurant had reached Michelin's top tier within the guide's Brazilian coverage, which has published since 2015 but only ever covered Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. Promoting two kitchens to three stars in the same year — rather than one — signals that Michelin views São Paulo as a top-tier dining city on a global reading, not a regional one. Both restaurants are tasting-menu rooms: Evvai is known for contemporary Italian-inflected cooking, Tuju for menus built around Brazilian ingredients and landscape.
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What else changed in the 2026 selection?
Madame Olympe was among the new one-star additions, per Michelin's published list, and the ceremony — held at the Copacabana Palace, itself a guide-covered address — was streamed live on the guide's official channel. The 2025 edition's ceremony had been held in São Paulo; moving it to Rio for 2026 kept both covered cities in the spotlight.
What this means for a São Paulo trip
Expect the two new three-star rooms to become the hardest reservations in South America for the rest of 2026. Both operate limited nightly seatings of long tasting menus, and post-ceremony demand from international travelers compounds local demand. Travelers planning a São Paulo food itinerary should also budget the city's wider dining scene — the guide's 136 covered restaurants concentrate in the Jardins district and Pinheiros — rather than fixating on the two top tables.
How does Brazil compare regionally?
With 24 starred restaurants, Brazil remains the guide's only Latin American coverage, which makes São Paulo the practical base for star-collecting itineraries on the continent. Rio's covered rooms skew toward beachfront hotel dining and a handful of independent kitchens, useful for extending an itinerary beyond São Paulo's three-star pair.