Raful Cozinha Árabe - 25 de Março — Restaurant in Região Imediata de São Paulo

If you are hanging out around São Paulo downtown or are just shopping at 25 de Março street that's a good place to take a look, stay and to recover your energy. This restaurant is strategically one block away from main street and it's specialty is Arabic food, but you'll find a few tipical Brazilian dishes.

It was my frist time there and I accepted waiter's suggestion and asked for the tasting-menu although you can simply snack some food eating while standing at the counter or just order a takeaway.

I can't say it's a cozy place to go for a formal meeting, but everything was neat and clean. The waiters were very good and noted down my order quickly.

The eating-menu serves two persons and it consists in small bowls with raw kibbeh, curd, hummus, baba ganoush, tabouleh and it comes with 2 pita breadand another one crunch. All of them were yummy!

One negative point to inform is there are too little beverages options to choose. Basically sodas and juices, but it is important to say that beer was in a good temperature.

Finally I tried some Arabian sweets but they weren't so good and the price...

This is the type of spot where you default to coming to any time you’re in the area. When you walk in it’s a convivial atmosphere and packed to the brim, to the point where you just have to figure out how they tick as you walk through the bustle. They’re smart to put the display cases up front where you’re immediately taken in by platters filled with esfihas, coxinhas and Kibe frito. It’s so packed you might get a bit sweaty waiting for a table but when your time comes they have amazing fresh pressed lime juice with mint that is so refreshing and will have you cooled down and ready for a feast.

We got the sampler which was great, a zaatar Esfiha, and some steak and rice. It was so difficult to say no to the staff walking by with trays of fresh things, tongs at the ready, had we known we would’ve saved some room for some spontaneity! Finish with an espresso and go...

O Raful do centro velho tem um kibe com coalhada delicioso, estava perfeito. O zaatar também. Os doces que comi - dedo aberto de damasco e ninho de nozes - estavam perfeitos. Só achei a esfiha folhada aberta de carne mediana (tempero bom, mas era pequena demais e a massa estava úmida, molenga, como se estivesse na bandeja do garçom há um tempinho), e o araes também mediano (correto mas nada de especial, é um araes de padoca só que mais caro). Também não fazem chá gelado na casa; achei decepcionante ter que tomar aqueles chás artificiais de latinha. Comprei também um rahat lokum industrializado (manjar turco) na bomboniere do caixa e estava delicioso, não estava velho. Os pedidos demoram um pouco e às vezes precisa "correr atrás" do garçom mas nada que estrague a experiência "a la 25 de março" - estava muito movimentado, pico mesmo. Acredito que o local cresceu demais em demanda e o espaço não comporta mais, então rola uma confusão. Pena que o preço não é da 25...