Da Terra means of the Earth and is a sleek modern restaurant under Chef Rafael Cagali in the Town Hall Hotel building in Bethnal Green.  Two rooms have large round tables covered with elasticated tablecloths with art on the walls.  Music was in the background, sound panels are on the ceiling and a finishing kitchen is on the end of one room (main kitchen downstairs).  Decorations vary but you’ll see lots of Mutant Ninja Turtle characters, one of which shares a name with the chef.  According to our server chef was teased about his chubby cheeks as a child in São Paulo and nicknamed ‘turtle’.  Then the Turtle characters came out and a friend sent him a Rafael and it took off from there.  He opened Da Terra in 2019 and within 8 months it had its first Michelin star.  They were awarded the Second Star in 2021.  The restaurant offers a blind tasting for which you will receive a menu at the end.  At lunch, they offer a slightly shorter tasting and we chose that avenue.  It was a lovely meal with fantastic, welcoming service and very artful beautiful food.  Chef Cagali was there and brought out several courses, explaining the culinary connections to his upbringing in Brazil adapted for Britain.

Set-Up

 

Food

A take on a Caipirinha cocktail started us off.  It’s a classic in Brazil made with Cachaca, sugar and lime.  This one was made with passion fruit and served in the hollowed out husk of one.  It also had pomelo matcha.  It was quite refreshing.

 

Duck Caesar was in a tiny wood bowl with the leaves sticking up out of the crisp crumbs.  It did resemble the flavor of a Caesar and was very good.

 

Stout cup and scallop was bits of scallop in a scallop emulsion dotted with crispy buckwheat in an ultra thin crisp shell.  This was delicious.

 

Carabineros and tomato vodka was a custard with a red sourdough tuile on top. You were to break through the tuile and mix it into the shrimp below.  The barely cooked shrimp were divine as was the entire dish.

 

Chalk Stream Trout had trout aged for 5 days and served with Pumpkin and Tucupi (a tangy yellow sauce extracted from manioc root).  The fish was cured with pumpkin and topped with some roe in a citrus sauce.  The emulsion of trout was between 2 thin slices of squash in an artful pose.  Very nice.

 

Sourdough  bread was served with bone marrow, cultured butter and Gonnelli 1585 Olive oil.  They bake the bread daily and you were to “tear and share”.  It had a good crisp crust with a nice doughy center.  The bone marrow was emulsified, smoked and served in the bone.  A set of spreads included cultured butter, pink peppercorn butter and olive oil butter.  A couple thin slices of ham finished the course.  The bread was delicious with any of it.  The marrow was very smokey and the pepper butter had a bit of zing.

 

Moquca was made with aged Turbot, Manteiguinha bean (small butter bean) and farofa (toasted yuca flour).  This traditional Brazilian fish stew was from Bahia which means it contains coconut milk and bell pepper.  Chef brought out the pot containing all the ingredients before they were cooked together to explain the dish.  This one used Dende oil (palm oil) and spicy pepper, pickled plantains, Hen of the Woods mushrooms and had a dish of extra peppers on the side if you desired spicy.  The fabulous fish was cooked perfectly and with the addition of a couple extra peppers this dish rocked.  From the small beans to the bell peppers this was outstanding.

 

Huntsham Farm Middle White Pork was with morel Feijoada alongside endive and cavolo nero (kale like vegetable).  The pork loin and shoulder were made into a sausage round and it was plated with the morel stuffed with Feijoada (stew of bean and pork).  The endive was dotted with bacon jam.  This was a couple plates filled with fun flavors and textures.  Delicious.

 

Pineapple was made with fermented pineapple juice and verbena.  Some barbecued pineapple and matcha drink with tapioca sugar were combined with the juice of the pineapple, I think.  A light shell surrounded the custard which sat on the grilled pineapple surrounded by pineapple liquid.  It had tons of textures and lovely strong pineapple flavors.  Not too sweet, it was light and wonderful.

 

Final treats were a Sweetcorn Macaroon made with white chocolate.  It was sweet, tasty with a light corn flavor.

Cupuacu cake was a brown butter cake topped with cream and a Brazil nut toile.   The nice cake was creamy and sweet.

Liqueur candy was made with limoncello in the shape of a small bottle.  It was so very delicate but truly filled with liquid delight.

 

We finished with a coffee that was from Daterra, but not related to the restaurant.  It was very nice.

 

They sent us with a Brazilian chocolate that was creamy and tasty later.