10 things I love about São Paulo

With Brazilian and Italian roots, Rafael Cagali, chef-owner of east London’s Da Terra, showcases both cuisines on his menus – but here shares his highlights of his home city

Rafael Cagali grew up in São Paulo, and his heritage and passion for Brazilian culture helps to guide his creative vision at two-Michelinstarred Da Terra in east London. He spent years living in both Italy – where he worked with Stefano Baiocco at A Villa Feltrinelli – and Spain, where he worked with Quique Dacosta and Martín Berasategui, before moving to the UK to work at Simon Rogan’s Fera and Heston Blumenthal’s The Fat Duck. At the latter, he met his husband Charlie, who he opened Da Terra with. São Paulo, however, will always be Rafael’s home.

1 Churrascaria

A spit-roasted cut of beef at a Churrascaria

Churrasco is the term for a barbecue that originated in southern Brazil. It’s made with a variety of meats – pork, sausage and chicken – that are cooked on a purposebuilt churrasqueira (barbecue grill), often with supports for spits or skewers and cooked over embers. NB Steak is a great place to go, and there are a few locations around São Paulo.

2 Padarias

These bakeries are everywhere in the city, and bread is baked twice a day, seven days a week. Breakfast is a very Paulistano thing to do, and we are very passionate about our bread. Order pão na chapa –a piece of french bread that’s cut in half, toasted and spread with butter – with some café com leite (coffee with milk) and freshly squeezed orange juice. You shouldn’t leave São Paulo without trying pão de queijo (Brazilian cheese bread), either. It’s made with tapioca flour instead of wheat, giving it a soft, chewy texture.

3 Mercadão

Colorful fresh fruit stand at the traditional Municipal Market (Mercado Municipal), or Mercadao, in Sao Paulo, Brazil

The Municipal Market of São Paulo was designed in 1933, specialising in fruits, vegetables, cereals, meats and spices. When you go there, get a sanduíche de mortadela (mortadella sandwich) served warm or cold, with cheese or vinaigrette.

4 Pastel

Pastel de bacalhau, or deep-fried pastry filled with cod

This kind of deep-fried puffed pastry is a must-try when you travel to Brazil, especially pastel de pizza. My favourite place to go is Pastelaria Brasileira, really close to the Palmeiras football stadium, where I like to go to watch games with friends.

5 Coconut water at Ibirapuera Park

A huge amount of coconuts inside and over a public gargabe bin. Shot at Aclimacao park, Sao Paulo, Brazil

Ibirapuera Park was the first metropolitan park in São Paulo, designed along the lines of English landscape gardens and inspired by modern drafts from the landscape architect Roberto Burle Marx. The park is a lovely space to ride bikes and scooters, rollerskate or walk around drinking fresh coconut water.

Ibirapuera Park and its beautiful green spaces

6 Walk through Oscar Freire

If you’d like to get a bit of shopping done, you should head to Rua Oscar Freire, a street stretching throughout the Jardins district of São Paulo. I love spending a relaxing day here looking around the shops and stopping for coffee in Cristallo, a historic café on the street. Its bomba de chocolate (chocolate éclair) is one of my great weaknesses. It’s worth visiting for some good coxinha (fried dough with filling), too.

7 Nikkei cuisine

Liberdade district is the city’s Japantown, home to the world’s largest ethnic Japanese community outside of Japan. The streets are gorgeous here, hung with lanterns and filled with people grocery shopping. Dining options include sushi bars, ramen shops and yakisoba noodle stalls.

8 Açaí

Deep purple açaí ice cream

This purple fruit comes from the northern region of Brazil. There, açaí ‘paste’ accompanies a main meal, along with beans and rice. Here in São Paulo – as in most of the south-east – açaí has become a dessert, served sometimes as ice cream or with fruit toppings. It’s great for cooling off after a long day.

9 Bars

Bar culture is one of my favourite things about São Paulo. Happy hour is very popular in the afternoon – there are normally a lot of different snacks to eat with ice-cold beer.

10 Moqueca

Moqueca is a dish that really showcases Brazilian history and tradition. To achieve its vibrant colour, dende oil, extracted from the fruit of dendezeiro, or African oil palm trees, is used to cook down the vegetables and spice paste before fish stock and coconut milk are added. Dende oil is an integral part of the Afro-Brazilian cuisine of northern Brazil. At Da Terra, a large pot is brought out to diners before returning to the kitchen to be plated and finished tableside by our chefs. It’s a warm and filling dish that is great for parties.


Moqueca

Dende oil is extracted from the fruit of palm trees and can be found in African or Brazilian specialist shops and online – you can substitute it with saffron and turmeric for the colour, as Moqueca is traditionally a creamy yellow.

45 MINUTES | SERVES 4 | EASY

unsalted butter 50g

onions 250g (about 2), sliced

red peppers 250g (about 2), thickly sliced

green pepper 1, thickly sliced

garlic 4 cloves, sliced

fish stock 400ml

coconut milk 400g tin 

white fish (such as cod, haddock or coley) 500g

king prawns 250g

coriander a small bunch, torn

lime 1, juiced

casava flour 8 tbsp, toasted in a dry pan (optional)

cooked rice to serve

SPICE PASTE

tomatoes 250g, chopped

whole black peppercorns 1 tsp

ground turmeric 1 tsp

ginger 80g, chopped

Malagueta or bird’s-eye chillies 4

dende oil 80ml

1 Melt the butter in a pan over a high heat and cook the onions and peppers for 5 minutes until softening and slightly caramelised. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute.

2 Make the paste by whizzing all of the ingredients in a food processor or high-powered blender to a smooth paste.

3 Turn down the heat to low, tip in the paste and cook for 10 minutes until thickened and slightly darkened, then pour in the stock and coconut milk.

4 Bring to the boil then simmer gently for 15 minutes. Add the fish and prawns, and continue gently simmering for 6-7 minutes or until cooked through.

5 Stir in the coriander and lime juice, and season. Serve with rice and the toasted casava flour on top for texture – also called farofa in Brazil.

PER SERVING 679 kcals | fat 49.5G saturates 31.4G | carbs 16.5G | sugars 12.3G fibre 6.2G | protein 38.8G | salt 1G