Not every great bar announces itself. Gato Que Ri — the Smiling Cat — sits on Rua Wisard without ceremony: a painted facade the colour of old ochre, a chalkboard menu that changes weekly, and a cluster of regulars on the pavement who seem to have nowhere better to be. They are correct.
Pinheiros, the Neighbourhood
Pinheiros has been São Paulo's most liveable neighbourhood for a generation now — the kind of place where independent coffee roasters, weekend fairs, and vinyl record shops share blocks with century-old tile-faced houses. Its bar scene reflects this sensibility: fewer cocktail theatre productions, more spots where the wine list is handwritten and the owner knows your name by the second visit.
Gato Que Ri is the distillation of this ethos. It opened over a decade ago as a wine bar with modest ambitions and became, through sheer consistency and the quality of its hospitality, one of the most reliably enjoyable places to drink in a city with no shortage of options.
Natural Wine as the Main Event
The bar's reputation is built primarily on its natural wine selection — a rotating list of around forty labels, many from small Brazilian producers in the Serra Gaúcha and Campanha Gaúcha wine regions of Rio Grande do Sul, alongside imported bottles from France, Italy, Portugal, and Georgia. The team taste everything they list and can speak about each bottle with genuine enthusiasm rather than rote description.
The philosophy is approachable rather than evangelical. Gato Que Ri does not require its guests to be natural wine devotees — the list is available by the glass throughout the evening, and staff are skilled at guiding the uninitiated toward bottles they'll actually enjoy rather than bottles that demonstrate the bar's credentials.
Alongside the wine list sits a short but well-chosen craft beer selection — mostly Brazilian producers from the nascent microbrewery scene centred on São Paulo's ABC region and Santa Catarina state, served in proper glassware at the right temperatures. There is also a concise spirits list, though most guests come for the wine.
The Food and the Courtyard
A bar in São Paulo without food is a bar with a retention problem. Gato Que Ri solves this with a short weekly menu of petiscos — Brazil's take on bar snacks elevated slightly above the standard: cured meats from Minas Gerais, seasonal vegetable dishes, quality cheeses, a rotating charcuterie board, and usually one or two proper plates built around whatever looks good at the market that morning.
The physical space consists of a narrow front room with a zinc bar counter, a slightly larger middle room with mismatched wooden tables, and — the real draw — a rear courtyard entirely enclosed by the walls of the surrounding houses. String lights overhead, a bougainvillea growing up one wall, and the specific acoustic quality of a walled outdoor space that muffles the city without quite silencing it. In Pinheiros summers, you will struggle to leave before midnight.
The Crowd and the Atmosphere
Gato Que Ri does not attract a single type. On weekday evenings the crowd skews toward professionals in their late twenties and thirties — the kind of people who worked in finance or design and live within walking distance. Fridays bring a wider cross-section of the neighbourhood. Sundays, when the bar opens early at 2pm, see a gentler pace: families at some tables, couples nursing their second bottle, and a general sense that no one is in any particular hurry.
The staff are the constant. Long tenures, genuine warmth, and the particular skill of managing a full house without making anyone feel rushed or overlooked. It is a harder thing to achieve than it looks.
Getting Here and Practical Notes
The bar is an easy walk from the Fradique Coutinho metro station on Line 4-Yellow, and Pinheiros station is slightly further but still walkable. Uber drop-off on Rua Wisard is straightforward. On weekend nights the bar fills quickly — arriving by 8pm on a Friday means you will likely get the courtyard. After 9pm, you may be waiting.
Gato Que Ri takes reservations for groups of six or more; smaller parties are walk-in only. Prices are generous: a glass of natural wine runs R$28–R$55 depending on the bottle, and the petiscos plates are priced to encourage ordering several. A night here rarely costs more than R$150–R$200 per person including food and generous drinking.
If you are building a Pinheiros evening, Gato Que Ri pairs naturally with a meal at one of the neighbourhood's excellent modern Brazilian restaurants before arriving. For a complete picture of São Paulo's bar landscape, the hidden gems guide to São Paulo and our round-up of the best cocktail bars — including the acclaimed Guilhotina in Jardim Paulista — give the full picture of a city drinking very well indeed.
