Reunions are frequently stressful affairs. What seemed like a good idea a month ago starts to fill you with dread as the date approaches. What is the right setting? Keep it open-ended so you can wrap things up swiftly should the conversation stall but also let things linger if you find that it’s just like old times? Or maybe a hard stop is better for both? And what if they look nothing like you remembered? Perhaps it’s worth rehearsing a few scenarios in case you’re completely shocked by their appearance.

All these thoughts and more were racing through my mind when I boarded TAP flight 89 on Monday. After a 10-year gap, how would it feel? Would it be a bit clunky? Or would we pick up exactly where we left off? In nine hours, I would start to find out. My reunion was with São Paulo itself – and all the people and places, scents and sounds I remembered. Here are a few impressions, both old and new:

1.
Terminal BTG Pactual
You can have a very soft landing if you arrive at GRU on the right airline or as a top customer of Brazilian financial services group BTG Pactual. Alongside the main terminal, the bank has built a sleek hub that allows you to make it from the aircraft door to your armoured wheels into town in less than 10 minutes. Outbound, you are dropped off, escorted to the dining room or private salon, then driven straight to the door of your aircraft. The reunion got off to a very good start.

2.
The Fasano Jardins
It’s alarming how warm memories can fade across a decade but thankfully everything can jolt back to life in an instant. The original Fasano has not changed, and is as cosy and sexy as I remembered. We’ll return here in a moment.

3.
Spot
São Paulo’s take on the brasserie (and there are a few) demands Unesco recognition. Spot mixes a little Portuguese, lots of Italian, a splash of Lebanese and some Japanese and German on the menu, creating the perfect formula for a late-night dinner on the eve of your arrival or for any other night of the week. Then there’s the crowd: chic oldies, young architects and a single or two.

4.
The Fasano Tennis Club
A new addition to the ever-expanding group and definitely a new global benchmark for urban country clubs. While much is completed, there are still a few more courts to go and the waiting list is long.

5.
Pulso
A new-ish part of the city’s streetscape and hotel scene, this homegrown beauty is worth a visit for its integration into the neighbourhood, its landscaping and its modernist art collection. A new one is also on the horizon.

6.
Iguatemi
The grand dame of Brazil’s malls is about to get even better with a rooftop extension that will include new restaurants and a retail surprise to shake up São Paulo’s already super-competitive luxury shopping-centre scene. The group does an excellent job of mixing the likes of Hermès with local Brazilian retailers and everyday services. Lunch at Rodeio was a culinary and social highlight.

7.
Luciana Brito Galeria
Wow! A modernist architectural gem (designed by Rino Levi) in a jungle setting with a collection of Brazilian and international artists. I left thinking about what life in such a compound might feel like.

8.
Le Freak
One of São Paulo’s newest downtown dining hotspots offers the best French 75 I’ve ever tasted, good Uruguayan wines and a very chic, privé dining nook on the mezzanine. No surprise, the menu is meaty.

9.
Galeria Metrópole
Across the street from Le Freak, this multi-level, open-air shopping centre offers up many cues about good urban planning, right-sized retail and building something solid and open to the elements. Packed with vintage shops, design firms, restaurants old and new and the odd travel agent, the galleria is part of downtown São Paulo’s tidy-up. That said, it’s still rather edgy in the park next door.

10.
Emporio Santa Luzia
Could this be the best grocery shop in the Americas? The world? The shop just turned 100 and is a social, cultural and commercial institution.

And finally: Ricardo, Isay – I missed you both! You were looking more handsome than ever and hopefully we’ll meet again within 10 weeks, not 10 years. Yes, dear reader, you’ll be hearing a bit more from São Paulo on page, on air and on screen.

Enjoying life in ‘The Faster Lane’? Click here to browse all of Tyler’s past columns.

A little bossa, lots of bubbles and even more Monocle subscribers joined Tyler and his Monocle colleagues, Fernando, Rebecca and Nicholas, for a reunion-cum-homecoming at the Fasano’s Baretto on Tuesday evening.

Magazines were signed, new subscribers joined the Brazil family and a few ideas for new projects were hatched. Caiparinhas always help! If you want to join the party, subscribe here. Obrigado!

In an era of supercharged supermarkets, food emporium London Epicerie is staking a claim for the weekly shop being as pleasant as stepping into a fashion boutique (writes Claudia Jacob). This is due in great part to Deidra Hodgson, the London-based Kiwi designer who is responsible for conjuring up the smooth-talking design vernaculars of brands including Aesop, Allpress, Bao, Veja and Cubitts.

London Epicerie founders Jared Wybrow and Raissa van Dijk – who honed their knack for sourcing at their hospitality venture London Cheesemongers – have scoured the globe to find specialist labels to feature in their culinary cornucopia in Belgravia. There’s Alpine cheese from L’Étivaz in the Swiss canton of Vaud; ancient-grain pasta from Noja Progetto Agricolo, based in Italy's Marche region; and small-batch kimchi from The North Shop, fermented in east London. And if you’re on the hunt for the perfect bottle, the former head sommelier at open-fire Basque restaurant Brat is on hand to give you a steer.
londonepicerie.co.uk

In 1999, José Kuri co-founded the Kurimanzutto gallery in Mexico City with his wife Mónica Manzutto and artist Gabriel Orozco (writes Blake Matich). Now with a second gallery in New York’s Chelsea neighbourhood, the pair have established Kurimanzutto as an important platform for Mexican contemporary art, as well as a host of international names. Here, Kuri takes us for a stroll through Chapultepec Park, shares what makes a good Cumbia playlist and reveals the best spot for pairing martinis with poetry.

What do we find you doing this weekend?
My Sunday walk takes me through Mexico City to Chapultepec Park, where I’ll greet the pre-hispanic Rey-Poeta [Poet-King] Nezahualcóyotl at his stunning and monumental stone fountain by sculptor Luis Ortiz Monasterio.

What’s on the breakfast table?
Handmade blue-corn tortillas and fresh ranchero cheese from Mercado El Chorrito, which is just a few blocks from home. Topping it off is a homemade spicy green-tomato salsa and a pinch of salt. The taco must be steaming hot.

Where do you go for your caffeine fix?
Panadería Rosetta in Roma Norte – its care for ingredients and attention to detail is truly rewarding. I heard a rumour that it might be launching its own coffee roastery. I can’t wait.

A Sunday soundtrack?
Any Cumbia playlist by amateur music anthropologist Pette Cornilius. Preferably one that has “Cumbia Sobre el Río” by that rebel of the accordion, Celso Piña.

Sunday arts or culture must?
Visiting José María Velasco’s paintings at Museo Nacional de Arte in CDMX’s historical centre. I still remember the first time my mother took me to see them. I was 12 years old and encountered these dreamlike, idyllic images of the Valley of Mexico [now almost completely covered by the Mexico City Metropolitan Area] at the turn of the 20th century. Strong nature, silent volcanoes and an incipient city grid.

What are you reading? Magazines or books?
My daughter Laila gave me the Pulitzer Prize-winning El Invencible Verano de Liliana [Liliana’s Invincible Summer] by writer Cristina Rivera Garza. It hits you in the guts but you cannot stop reading. Even the toughest topics are dealt with through vitally powerful language.

What’s on the menu?
Huauzontles [a type of broccoli] in pasilla chilli sauce with ayocote beans from Casa Merlos.

And to drink?
Vodka martini with a book of poetry at La Americana bookshop in Condesa. “Books and martinis” is their motto.

A pantry essential?
Any homemade very spicy salsa.

Which brands does your wardrobe currently consist of?
Ponchos by Remigio Mestas, the master of textiles from Oaxaca. Shirts and belts by Sánchez-Kane. Every garment from Arts & Science in Tokyo.

Next on the travel itinerary?
Mérida for the first Yucatan Biennial curated by artist Abraham Cruzvillegas.

Monocle’s guide to Mexico City has all of the galleries, coffee spots and taquerías that you should have on your list.

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