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

Rafael Cagali will open Elis at the Town Hall Hotel, next to his two-Michelin-starred Da Terra

A chef stands in a busy kitchen, plating a dish next to a thermos, with another chef at work in the background and a window behind both of them
Rafael Cagali at work at two-Michelin-starred Da Terra.
Justin de Souza/Da Terra

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.

London

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Behind

20 Sidworth St, Hackney, London , E8 3SD

Mother

Battersea Power Station, London, SW11 8AB Visit Website

Da Terra

8 Patriot Square, , England E2 9NF Visit Website

Noble Rot

51 Lamb’s Conduit St, London, Greater London WC1N 3NB +44 20 7242 8963 Visit Website