Inside Tuju, São Paulo’s Three-Michelin-Starred Restaurant Redefining Brazilian Fine Dining

Imagine this. A plate of canapés arrives and you’re eyeing the transparent-as-glass tapioca stem and a snugly fitted, blushing-pink, sea-urchin rose coiled above. The server sets you off on this imaginative culinary adventure, with the words, “Have fun.” You’d be forgiven if you thought this was your cheery neighbourhood diner. Except that it isn’t. Inside Tuju, the three-Michelin-starred restaurant in São Paulo’s slick, upscale locality of Jardim Paulistano, chef-owner Ivan Ralston has created an alternative world. Of fun, creativity and an exceptional dining experience that involves local produce in the most imaginative way.

Tuju’s story is rooted in Paulistana cuisine; the food culture and produce of São Paulo, and changes every three months. Rather than repeating a fixed signature menu, and his team respond to the climatic character of each season; rain, humidity, wind or drought, drawing primarily on small-scale producers across São Paulo and ingredients uncovered through their own research. Tuju’s approach challenges the idea that exceptional fine dining must feel formal or distant. Here, Brazilian hospitality is expressed through generosity and ease. The service is stripped of ceremony and built around warmth, intuition and the art of paying attention.

All of these have just aligned to get Tuju the coveted Art of Hospitality Award at The World’s 50 Best Restaurants 2026 putting that philosophy firmly on the global stage. Tuju was named No.70 in The World’s 50 Best Restaurants 2025 as a new entry to the 50 Best Extended List: 51-100

In an interview with Robb Report India, Chef- Owner Ivan Ralston shares:

Robb Report India (RR): Tuju has just had an extraordinary year. Three Michelin stars and now the Art of Hospitality Award at The 50 Best Restaurants 2026. When the noise around the awards dies down, what do you hope people understand about Tuju that a list or a star can never really capture?

Chef Ivan Ralston Bielawski (IB): On the very first day, before Tuju even opened, I personally went to my supplier to hand-pick the fish and seafood. It’s something I still do two or three times a week. We also continue to change the menu four times a year. That relationship with our surroundings has never changed and it never will. Today, 80 per cent of our guests are local, and around 50 per cent of them are regulars. That is the kind of relationship between a restaurant and its guests that I believe in. Tourists will always be very welcome, but they are not the main focus of our restaurant.

RR: You’ve built Tuju around Paulistana cuisine, rather than a generic idea of “Brazilian food”. What does São Paulo taste like to you today, and how has your understanding of that identity changed since Tuju first opened?

IB: São Paulo tastes of many different cuisines. But here, each of them somehow develops an identity of its own. I would say: São Paulo tastes like the world.

RR: At Tuju, the menu changes every three months, responding to rain, humidity, wind and drought. Why was it important to make seasonality the architecture of the restaurant rather than simply another ingredient on the menu?

IB: Understanding the seasons was essential for two reasons. First, for our own organisation. Believe it or not, there has never been any formal work of this kind in Brazil. The second reason was precisely to establish a deeper connection with our surroundings. There are moments when I miss the ingredients that disappear; on the other hand, new ones are always arriving.

RR: There is an interesting tension at Tuju: the cooking is highly technical, yet the hospitality is deliberately relaxed and human. Do you think fine dining has spent too long confusing formality with sophistication?

IB: I think there is an excess of meaningless gestures in fine dining today. Good cooking happens precisely when there is intention and purpose behind every gesture. I would say the same about service and hospitality. In short, fine dining remains alive when there is the courage to create a language of your own, rather than simply repeating the same old show.

RR: The Art of Hospitality Award is particularly interesting because it recognises what happens around the food rather than just what is on the plate. What does “Brazilian hospitality” mean to you ?

IB: Brazilian hospitality is exactly that: minimalist, yet warm. If Americans conceived hospitality through an almost Hollywood-like approach, grand and sometimes excessive, we Brazilians built ours from the inside out.

RR: Tuju seems to resist the idea of the chef as the sole author. How much of the restaurant’s identity belongs to the farmers, researchers, producers, sommeliers and front-of-house team who make the experience possible?

IB: When we opened, I wanted the restaurant to become a great embassy for local producers. That commitment remains intact. I want to show Brazilians that our products and producers are exceptional, and to contribute, over the coming decades, to overcoming what we call our “mongrel complex” — this deeply rooted tendency to assume that what comes from abroad is somehow better than what we have at home. Perhaps only Brazilians will fully understand what that means.

RR: Your cellar holds more than 5,000 wines, while the food is intensely Brazilian. What role does wine play in placing Brazilian cuisine in a global conversation, rather than simply accompanying it?

IB: I love wine in general, especially Burgundy. I think that is one of the more international sides of the restaurant. Someone could reasonably ask why we don’t work exclusively with Brazilian wines. But the truth is very simple: we love the wines on our list. We keep collecting bottles and adding new things every year. In a way, wine is also a bridge between Tuju and the rest of the world.

RR: What is your most favourite ingredient to cook with?

IB: Seafood in general.

RR: Tell us all about your favourite dish at Tuju.

IB: At the moment, it’s charcoal-grilled grouper with a slightly spicy green garlic sauce, sweet peas and asa-de-anjo, a local shellfish.

RR: If the next decade of Brazilian gastronomy is going to be defined by its food, what do you think Brazilian chefs should be saying about Brazil through food?

IB: I think our cuisine is elegant in the way bossa nova is elegant