Minute on the clock: Rafael Cagali, chef owner of Da Terra

The chef owner of Da Terra in east London talks about running the two-Michelin-starred restaurant and sticking by a blind menu concept

 

Can you tell me about the transition to setting up your own restaurant?

 

I think everything happened naturally. Working for so many Michelin-starred restaurants [including the Fat Duck] meant that when it came to opening Da Terra, I was ready for this venture.

 

Your restaurant is called Da Terra and puts a lot of emphasis on roots. Where or what are your roots?

 

I was born and bred in Brazil, but in my case my family heritage comes from Italy. The name actually means ‘from the earth’, where ‘terra’ means ‘from the ground’, but also globally, like the earth or the planet. I wanted to bring to the restaurant [questions of] who you are and where you are coming from – never forget your roots, that kind of thing.

 

What are some of the highlights on your menu?

 

There are influences from places that I’ve worked at before, so the menu is my journey as a chef. I like to pinch things from Brazil, because this is my background, but I’ve never worked in Brazil. I don’t want to stamp the restaurant as Brazilian because it’s not, but I try to bring my background into it. I try to bring memories that I have from growing up and the food that we have back home, so the menu is like a mixture of that with what made me as a chef. Everything is there for a reason.

 

You have a blind tasting menu. How do guests respond to the mystery around what they will be served

 

At the beginning I was a little bit concerned. Not many people knew what I was coming to do, so they might say ‘who is this guy?’. Persisting in what I wanted to do brought a lot of challenges. You can’t please everybody, and if you go down that line, then it won’t be enjoyable. Dining’s about excitement.

 

There are plenty other restaurants that you can choose what you want to eat, so I thought this could be something a bit more special.

 

Is sustainability important to you?

 

This is the priority. We always try to be as sustainable as we can. We’re also teaching the team how to think about wastage. It’s impossible to say we’re zero-waste, but we minimise the wastage as much as we can. We try to use all the cuts if it’s fish or a bird – we try to use everything.

 

What do you like about working in an open kitchen?

 

I think it’s brilliant. I think it’s just so nice to see the guests as much as the guests can see us. You want to see the reaction of eating. There’s a lot of interaction with the diners. It also educates the chefs to have a nice and clean cooking environment. We do maximum 30 guests and we don’t turn tables, so when the guests come in, they can experience that for three or four hours.

 

What dish are you most proud of?

 

It’s hard to pick one, to be very honest. I think I’m proud of all of them. I always have to be proud of them for them to be on the menu.

 

But probably the one that I think of is moqueca, a Brazilian fish stew. For me, as the only Brazilian in the whole restaurant, to bring out this dish, it was something else. I’m the only one who can bring that originality.

 

It’s a very traditional dish, which I’ve been serving to a few Brazilians and they enjoyed it. It’s good to hear that.