Da Terra Restaurant
Cagali makes the moqueca with aged turbot and turns the tomato, coconut and palm oil sauce into a light frothy broth, which is the moment the Brazilian and the British stop being a menu description.
Why go
Rafael Cagali is Brazilian, his ancestors are Italian, and he cooks in the dining room of the Edwardian Town Hall Hotel in Bethnal Green with local seasonal produce. Tomé Morrissy-Swan called the result an homage to Brazil, Britain, and Italy
and picked out the specifics: prawns with palm hearts, chicken with tart tucupí, and a baba soaked in cachaça instead of rum (The Infatuation). It holds two Michelin stars in the 2026 London list. The room is minimal and light and the service runs casually for the price, which is what Tony Parkin means when he says it feels like eating at Rafael and Charlie's house.
Order this / avoid
- Order: the aged turbot moqueca, which is the dish the kitchen is arguing with. The cachaça baba. Prawns with palm hearts. Chicken with tucupí for the sourness.
- Avoid: turning up without a booking, because a hotel tasting menu at this level fills. Expecting a traditional moqueca, which this deliberately is not.
What locals & experts say
- Tony Parkin, of Tony Parkin at The Tudor Room, asked where London chefs eat, rating the food at the top of its game and then getting to what he actually goes for:
you genuinely feel like you're sitting in Rafael and Charlie's house. The service and food is so personal and Rafael's food really shows its roots!
2 - Tomé Morrissy-Swan for The Infatuation, on the crossing:
Local seasonal produce is treated with the utmost care, blending them with Brazilian delicacies to create an homage to Brazil, Britain, and Italy, where chef Rafael Cagali's ancestors hail from.
On the signature:The aged turbot moqueca is a highly cheffy take on the classic, turning the tomato, coconut, and palm oil sauce into a delicate, frothy broth that might scare traditionalists but is delicious.
1 - The MICHELIN Guide, two stars in the 2026 London list. The guide is recorded here as trajectory metadata rather than as the reason for the ranking.3
Good to know
- Where: the Town Hall Hotel, 8 Patriot Square, Bethnal Green, E2 9NF.
- Format: tasting menus at the top price band, booked ahead.
- Wine: the list leans low-intervention rather than classical, which suits the room.
- Hygiene: FSA rating 5, inspected 23 October 2025, with food hygiene practice scoring a clean 0.4
Verdict
should-visit — Rafael Cagali is Brazilian with Italian ancestors, cooking in an Edwardian town hall in Bethnal Green with British produce, and the proof that the three-way crossing is real is in the details. The baba is soaked in cachaca instead of rum. The moqueca is made with aged turbot and the tomato, coconut and palm oil sauce is turned into a light frothy broth rather than left as a stew, which Tome Morrissy-Swan says might frighten traditionalists and is delicious anyway. Tony Parkin, who cooks at The Tudor Room, says the food is at the top of its game and that eating there feels like sitting in Rafael and Charlie's house. It holds two Michelin stars in the 2026 London list, and the stars are not what puts it here: the ranking model treats guides as the weakest evidence and files big tasting menus under occasion. What is recorded is one chef vote from 2022 and one bylined but unscored piece from 2023, and that is a clear standout rather than a plan-the-trip-around-it.