Sitting in the modern dining room at Da Terra, chef Rafael Cagali’s two-Michelin-starred restaurant, the gleaming, well-kept open kitchen first draws your eye. The complete set of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles figures posed throughout the space, however, is a close second. One, Raphael, is wearing a red Michelin wristband as a bandana, which Cagali kept from his first-ever Michelin ceremony. It’s these personalized details that bring Da Terra, located in East London’s Town Hall Hotel, to life.
“I always like to think about something that breaks down the seriousness of dining,” Cagali tells Observer. “With the Ninja Turtles, first I got Raphael. I thought that was kind of cute having him on the pass. Then I felt he got a bit lonely, so we had to get the wrong gang in there. And people love them.”
Since opening Da Terra in 2019, Cagali has been perpetually focused on evolving the space, the menu and the experience. He recently had an opportunity to renovate the dining room and kitchen, and to take over the adjacent cocktail bar, which has been transformed into a lounge where the pre-dinner drinks and snacks are served.
He thoughtfully curates the music in both rooms and considers even the smallest details. The Wagyu sirloin course, for example, is presented with a small brass cow knife holder for the steak knife. Each flourish allows the restaurant to become more his own. “Sometimes, the dish itself is not the most memorable thing about a meal,” Cagali says.“Instead, you’re thinking about the whole experience. How can I make my place more interesting?”
Prior to Da Terra, the space was occupied by Lee Westcott’s The Typing Room, which closed in 2018. Cagali inherited the existing layout and kitchen, and initially had to make do with what was there. “There was very little money at the start of the business, but there was a lot of willingness and wanting to make something nice happen,” he notes. “It’s always been my desire to do the kitchen my way.”
While Cagali wanted to get everything finished right away, the improvements required patience, which paid off in the end. The renovations, which took place over the holidays after a year of planning, were even more meticulous because he knew exactly what would make the room work for the guests.
“We started to learn how the menu performs,” he says. “Once you’re actually working in the room, you realize there are things you didn’t really think about. The kitchen we have now is exactly what I pictured in my head. But I still have ideas for improvement. And maybe this is just me as a perfectionist.”
Cagali tweaked the open kitchen to make it his own. The dining tables are arranged to observe the chefs at work, an instrumental part of the experience. It makes sense to him because it incorporates the diners directly into the meal and improves the flow of service. It’s also a layout he’s familiar with—before opening Da Terra, Cagali was the head chef at Simon Rogan’s London iteration of Aulis, a 12-seat restaurant where all of the guests sit at a horseshoe-shaped countertop and watch the action up close. He also worked at Quique Dacosta in Spain and Rogan’s Fera in London, both of which had some version of an open kitchen.
“Guests love to see a bit of kitchen action,” Cagali explains. “It’s not easy for a chef to adapt to this kind of service, but it creates a lot of discipline because people are watching you all of the time. You can see the tables and what stage they are at, so you can better anticipate what’s next. It can be hard because you could have had a shit day, but you have to smile and you have to perform.”
The chef isn’t bothered by this pressure. In fact, he says it’s a “nice” feeling. Plus, the staff observes the guests, as well—something of which diners may not be aware.
“We like to watch the diners eating,” Cagali says with a grin. “It’s like, ‘Oh, he finished it and then he loved it.’ You can hear the action. That’s exciting as a chef.”
Much like the space, the menu at Da Terra, too, is constantly evolving. Although Cagali hails from Brazil and draws on Brazilian influences, he also incorporates inspiration from Italy, Japan and, of course, England, where he moved from Brazil 23 years ago. He’s hesitant to label his cooking as specifically Brazilian, even though he knows it’s a good marketing technique.
“Fine dining is becoming too much like copy and paste; there are a lot of places where people are doing exactly the same thing,” he says. “So with a pinch of Brazilian and Italian and everywhere else, I can do something slightly different. It’s more interesting to say that the experience at [Da Terra] is the same journey I’ve had as a chef—different countries, places I’ve lived and worked, chefs I’ve worked for. And Brazil has a lot of immigrants from everywhere, so that helps a lot. I can be vast in my creativity and I don’t have to limit myself.”
The current menu instead showcases a unique combination of dishes and flavors that represent Cagali’s overall career. Alongside the global influences, the tasting menu exemplifies Cagali’s predilection for visual flair. A delicate quail dish presents the protein in several ways: a tortellini in brodo, a small skewer and a black truffle-decorated liver mousse. The mousse is offered on a glass plate filled with quail feathers—an effort to use the entire bird.
“I’ve always played with the visual first because that is the first impact,” he says. “When the diner puts anything in their mouth, the flavor is key. But before it reaches your mouth, it reaches your eyes. When you look at something, I want you to understand that there’s been a lot of effort to achieve it. The details are essential, and I want you to appreciate those tiny details. With the quail, obviously, the visual is exciting. But it’s also sustainable.”
For the fish course, Cagali serves an elevated take on moqueca, a Brazilian fish stew that originates in Bahia. Before bringing the actual dish to the table, the chefs showcase what uncooked moqueca looks like in a pot, before cooking it alongside a map of Brazil that points out Bahia itself. It provides the diner with context for the inspiration, but also to offer an understanding of what the traditional form of the stew might look like. Cagali’s version, made with turbot, has become a Da Terra signature.
“I’m not from the region, but I wanted to bring something quite unique in terms of flavor,” he says. “I think I had the dish once in my life before I started serving it. I started with very basic recipes because you don’t want to mess around with something super traditional. You want to keep it true to the original, so when someone eats it, there is a memory of the dish, but it’s not visually exactly the same. I wanted to come up with a story around it so that if you’re not familiar, you get to learn about the dish.”
Da Terra’s location in Bethnal Green is somewhat unusual for a two-Michelin-starred restaurant. It brings guests off the beaten path of Mayfair and Soho, again taking away some of the overt seriousness that comes with fine dining, like white tablecloths, chefs who don’t interact with diners and rigid service. It’s a growing neighborhood, with numerous new restaurants opening every month. Cagali’s local favorite is Italina 385, a casual pizza spot across the road from Da Terra.
“It is one of the best pizzas you can find,” he enthuses. “People underestimate it, but it’s genuinely so good. I’m a big fan of pizza. Hence my Ninja Turtles. I also love Perilla in Stoke Newington. There are so many places I want to try [in London], but it’s hard to go on the days we’re closed, because they’re closed, too.”
Most of Cagali’s time is spent either at Da Terra or focused on Da Terra. He took his staff to Brazil while the restaurant was being renovated, but he’s usually in the office or the kitchen, working long hours. He’s used to standing in the kitchen at this point in his career, and finds being a restaurant owner more mentally challenging than physically challenging.
“I’m not just showing up and setting up my section now,” he says. “There’s a lot more to it as a company owner. I sometimes feel quite drained because there is a lot to think about. And then you have to switch your mindset when the guests come in. They don’t care how much crap you went through that day. They just want to come and eat. And I’m always thinking about new dishes. It’s a lot to balance. But it’s also very rewarding.”
Cagali is always dreaming up more plans for Da Terra. He acknowledges that the menu is “the best it can be,” but can’t hamper his urge to constantly improve.
“There are always things that you want to change,” he says. “You want to change the garnish. You want to add something seasonal. And some dishes take a little bit longer than the others. Sometimes you try something and it’s not what you were thinking, but that’s just an opportunity to be creative. You keep flowing naturally and make mistakes and learn from that and try again. For me, that’s the exercise—to always have an open mind and keep trying.”
