London’s Flourishing Modern Brazilian Scene Continues With a Bethnal Green Double-Up

The chef behind two-Michelin-starred restaurant Da Terra at the Town Hall Hotel in Bethnal Green will open a second, more casual restaurant at the venue. Rafael Cagali’s Elis, named after a restaurant and jazz bar owned by his mother in Sao Paolo, will open on 12 August, serving dishes that cross over Cagali’s Brazilian and Italian heritage.

That translates into gnocco fritto and vitello tonnato sitting alongside plump bolinho de bacalau, and churros dusted with Pecorino: the world of cheese doughnuts is ever expanding. When it comes to larger dishes, pork chop served with Brazilian black beans and chimichurri will be joined by a monkfish tail glazed with tucupi, the darkly reduced glaze of bitter manioc juice that takes various forms — and names across Amazonian cuisines.

Wines will come from Bloomsbury institution Noble Rot’s importer and consultancy arm Keeling Andrew & Co, and judging by Cagali’s words on the new opening, diners can expect a wine bar feel:

“Elis is inspired by my mother and childhood and we will be serving more rustic dishes, with a selection of elegant snacks and good wines. I have wanted to explore some of the more relaxed elements of Brazilian and Italian food culture for some time; drawing on everything from my favourite street food to family meal celebration dishes that my grandma used to make.”

It will later be joined by Bossa, off Oxford Street — a more casual Brazilian spin-off of Michelin-starred Oteque, in Rio de Janeiro — as London sees the start of a small flourishing of contemporary Brazilian cookery.