D.O.M. Gastronomia Brasileira, Sao Paulo, Brazil
We arrive in Sao Paulo on a Saturday afternoon, checking in to our aptly named Hotel Unique, and with good intentions of going for a walk in the nearby Iberapeura Park, one of Sao Paulo’s most beautiful outdoor spaces. However the afternoon of our arrival is cold and grey, with a misty drizzle falling from the low-slung clouds. We cast our noble intentions aside and succumb to jetlag and the guilty pleasure of a much-needed siesta.
But we cannot sleep for long – soon our alarm is awakening us, as we have a date with D.O.M. – one of Sao Paulo’s finest restaurants and a much anticipated dining reservation.
D.O.M. was first opened in 1999, and has been on the list of the World’s 50 Best Restaurants since 2006. Head Chef Alex Atala is credited with spearheading the emergence of Brazilian cuisine onto the world food stage over the last 20 years, exalting the use of traditional Brazilian ingredients and techniques in contemporary cooking. In particular, he has explored and experimented with the use of foods from the Amazon basin, incorporating elements almost unknown outside of the indigenous jungle tribes, in the menus of his fine dining restaurant. In doing so, Chef Atala has become one of South America’s most celebrated chefs, lauded in TIME Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People of the World in 2013, and appearing regularly on television, including in a feature edition of the Netflix documentary series, Chef’s Table. D.O.M. is Chef Atala’s signature restaurant in Sao Paulo.
So, it is with much excitement that we have a reservation for this evening (booked exactly 90 days in advance!) and we head to the leafy Jardins district of Sao Paulo for our meal. The restaurant is housed in a small unassuming building, near the end of a quiet cul-de-sac. The entrance is understated, with just a softly illuminated sign to let you know you are in the right place. We are welcomed inside, to an interior which is similarly contemporary but classical, smartly furnished but softly lit. It is all creams and taupes and wood, elegant but with the suggestion that here it is the food that takes centre stage.
In the middle of the room hangs an ornate candelabra, its modern wrought-iron frame subsequently decorated with traditional Brazilian handicrafts and the occasional hunting arrow. It fills the room with a warm glow, as do the tabletop candles which are housed in distinctive holders crafted from the scales of a gigantic river fish.
We are greeted by a team of wait staff, who are confident and comfortable in their roles – many have been here for years, some since its opening. They are professional, knowledgeable and unpretentious. Shortly after we are seated, the unmistakable Chef Atala (with his thick beard and tattooed arms) enters the building and strides through the dining room on his way to the kitchen – one of us (perhaps A), goofily smiles in recognition before realising her mistake, but receives a warm smile and head-nod in return.
The menu at D.O.M. is a chef’s tasting menu – with approximately four courses on the Optimus menu and eight courses on the Maximus menu, with the option for matching wines or juices. Keen to experience as much novel Brazilian fare as possible, we have no hesitation in choosing the Maximus option.
The first dish of the evening is a signature item at D.O,M., which we were anticipating with some trepidation – a duo of Amazonian ants…
Amazonian ant and cachaca
The first is ant au-naturale – a single half-inch ant, cooked but still fully recognisable. As instructed, we pick it up in our fingertips and eat it whole, apprehensively expecting the characteristic aroma of squashed ant. But to our immense surprise, we are greeted with a burst of lemongrass flavour, and a hint of ginger – apparently these Asian staples are the characteristic flavours of these particular Amazonian ants! (for a more detailed explanation, see this great TED-Ex talk with Chef Atala). The second ant is encased in a jellied sweet, made with the sugarcane liqueur cachaça – it dissolves immediately in our mouths in another burst of nuanced flavour, again delicious. It is quite an introduction to the flavours of Brazil!
A series of courses follow, each incorporating wild and wonderful ingredients native to Brazil. We try langoustines with tapioca and coconut, foraged Amazonian mushrooms with a creamy slow-cooked egg yolk, scallops with native cashews, heart of palm with blue taro. One course is preceded by tasting of jambú, an indigenous herb with local anaesthetic properties that creates a tingling sensation on the tongue and changes the flavour of the food.
There is tucupí, a liquid extracted from the cassava root, and priprioca, an aromatic root previously used only in the cosmetics industry. There are multiple breads made with manioc flour, each hailing from a different region of Brazil, and a communal stew of river fish, served from the same cauldron to each table, as would be done in an indigenous community.
Hump steak with baroa potato and wild Brazilian vanilla
Each course is proudly presented by a team of waitstaff and chefs, with detailed explanations of the origins of the ingredients and the creation of the dish. The savoury aspect of the meal finishes with aligot, mashed Brazilian potatoes whipped into elasticity with locally produced cheese, brought to the table theatrically as it is stretched and juggled between two huge forks. Finally there is a dessert of Brazilian honey ice cream with bee pollen, and a host of petit fours.
Brazilian bee honey ice cream, fermented honey and pollen
As a final treat at the end of the night, we are invited into the kitchen, where Chef Atala proudly introduces his staff, welcomes us to Brazil, and poses enthusiastically for a photo. D.O.M. is certainly a wonderful way to begin our culinary adventure in Brazil.
