I used to complain that there were no cool bars or lounges in São Paulo, but I take that back after this past weekend. On Saturday night I went to Sonique for a friend’s birthday, and it is everything I have been asking for in São Paulo: a place with impeccable design and great music that I can go to with friends for a drink or two after dinner at 11ish, and be done by 2. If you live in a city like New York, that may seem like the norm, but much of São Paulo’s traditional bar culture revolves around draft beer and appetizers on a sidewalk bar in the late afternoon, and the city’s nightlife is all about big clubs which you should not even attempt to go to before at least 1 am. Sonique may just be the antidote for that.

Opened since February (don’t even ask me why I had not been there yet), Sonique was designed by the much hyped French-Brazilian architects Triptyque, and its decor alone would be worth a trip there. The crowd is mixed, 40% straight 60% gay, and pretty cute. If you happen to be in São Paulo, that is one place I would tell you not to miss.

Sonique is located at Rua Bela Cintra, 461.

Picture blatantly stolen from Duda Bairros’ Flickr.