Weekly Review: Da Terra
Creativity, innovation, quality, and experience make it one of London’s best places.
A few weeks ago, I wrote about Moor Hall, and spent considerable time justifying my view that it is the best restaurant in the UK. Minutes after the review went live, I had a message from my friend Iain, who first introduced to me to Moor Hall and loves it. “What about Da Terra?”
Ah. About that.
When I first started Professional Lunch, reviewing Da Terra was top of my priority list. I first visited with a small group of friends in 2021, soon after it earned its second Michelin star, and enjoyed one the most fantastic meals. Tremendous fun. Properly innovative, creative, and delicious food. An experience so memorable that friends and I were still discussing it years later.
Thus, after much dithering about diaries, we managed to reassemble the original group — plus one new joiner for objectivity — and return to see if our second visit could match our first.
Much had changed in the intervening years. Chef Rafa Cagali and his partner Charlie Lee have refreshed the room, improved the kitchen, and added a lovely bar across the hall. They also dispatched Chef Ewan Waller to Hove to open Maré, which I thought was fabulous and has subsequently earned its own Michelin star.
On my recent visit, I arrived first and was guided into the new bar. It feels tropical, and on a sunny, warm June day, I could have been in a quiet corner of San Paulo or at a posh resort on a pleasant Caribbean island. The Central line having made hostages of the rest of the group, I ordered champagne and dug into the wine list.
Sommelier Maria Boumpa has put together one of the best lists in London. It digs deep into Burgundy — both white and red — but also offers beautiful new world options at very reasonable mark-ups. There is Kumeu River Maté’s Vineyard, Seña, Pieropan La Rocca, Felton Road Block 5, and an assortment of other favourites, often with proper age.
Before even making it to the table, I had picked out three bottles and had my eye on several more. Boumpa is from Greece, shares the same affection for Trivet that I do, and was named UK Sommelier of the Year for 2025 amongst a cascade of other accolades. She became our vital companion and advisor through our lunch, catching onto our attitude and joining in the good humour. She also managed our selections to make the best pairings.
Friends liberated from the Central line, we moved into the dining room. It remains a perfect representation of fine dining in east London. The decor is simple. There are antique parquet floors and comfortable, modern chairs and tables. The hip vibe of the furniture has been made to balance well with historical Bethnal Green Townhall and its antique notes.
Once seated, snacks began to arrive. There was a wonderful “Stout Cup & Roe” which featured amazingly fresh English peas. A chicken Caesar salad lettuce wrap was a real highlight, delivering great flavour with a sense of humour — and a tiny towel to clean your fingers. A gorgeous dish featuring crab and sake delivered sweetness and acidity. But the best was “Mushroom Tart,” which served up impossible levels of flavour and a hint of fresh truffle.
From there, we worked our way through the full tasting menu developed by Chef Rafa and Da Terra’s Head Chef, Mark Tuttiett.
Isle of Wight Tomato came with the most gorgeous Ajo Blanco sauce, the flavour of the almonds balancing perfectly with the acidity in the tomatoes. The presentation was a work of art.
Following a scallop course that included an amusing, delicious play on the traditional Brazilian ice, we moved to Da Terra’s signature: Moqueca, a Brazilian fish stew. It originates from the practice of cooking fish wrapped in banana leaves over a fire, but Chef Rafa’s version is based on a regional variety that also incorporates coconut milk and bell pepper. The stew was served over a piece of house-smoked Trout.
It was in these two courses that we see what makes Da Terra so special and memorable. Chef Rafa is a polyglot. After growing up in Brazil in an Italian family, he lived abroad in France, Italy, and the UK. He is careful not to describe Da Terra as “fusion,” but emphasises that he is bringing the best of his experiences together into new forms.
The next course hammers home the point: It’s langoustine, the go-to, high-end shellfish choice for expensive tasting menus everywhere. Jonathan Nunn is already bored. Except this one is paired with Iberico pork stuffed into a Morrel mushroom. There is a deep, rich sauce more calibrated to the pork than the langoustine, but it works just as well with the delicate shellfish. And when you put everything together into a single bite, you discover something entirely new, and remember why tasting menus are so much fun.
The main event is duck from Sladesdown Farm in Devon. It’s dry aged and then presented across two courses. The first is a consommé, wonderfully clarified and blasting unctuousness. Alongside, there’s delightful milk bread served with a pâté made from the duck’s liver. Then there is the breast itself, perfectly prepared and served with beetroot, duck’s heart, and a gorgeous Brazil-inspired rice dish flavoured with the duck. Every element is successful, and the whole experience takes in a broad swathe of cooking traditions, only to express them in a perfectly unified, coherent, and delicious new way.
The cheese course, well, isn’t. It’s a cheese-flavoured ice cream sandwich with a guava jam deployed an essential condiment. It’s genius. And beautiful.
Desserts include a baba flavoured with Cachaça, pistachio, and a touch of caviar — for saltiness, obviously. Then a delicious hit of mango, the perfect acidic end for a tired palate.
Petit fours followed in the bar, where we reflected on our experience.
In the five years since our last visit, Da Terra has continued to improve and evolve. For its creativity, innovation, quality, and experience, I would rate it better than Ikoyi. I also enjoyed it more than The Clove Club, which I would view as its closest East London competitor. And it was far better than Restaurant Gordon Ramsay in Royal Hospital Road, which I had visited two nights before.
But I don’t think it quite trumps The Ritz, CORE by Clare Smyth, or The Ledbury, which were the other finalists when I considered Best in the UK last month. Nor does it best Moor Hall, which retains its title — for now.
What about Professional Lunch?
Obviously doing the full Tasting Menu for lunch is a lot. Counting snacks and petit fours, there were 12 courses. But Da Terra also offers a shorter tasting menu for professional dinner, and a more affordable three course set-lunch if you want to get a feel for the place. Or you could just go hang out in the bar and enjoy great cocktails and Maria’s wonderful wine list. If you’re a Central line commuter, it’s 2 minutes from the Bethnal Green station.
Whatever your pleasure, Da Terra is one of London’s best restaurants, and it is still on its ascent. I can’t wait to see what heights it reaches next.
Quick hit: Top notch creativity, innovation, quality, and experience make it one of London’s best places.
Details: Booking essential. Bethnal Green. ££££.
Visit their website. More on Instagram and from Michelin.
Find it on Google Maps. 8 Patriot Square, E2 9NF.
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Yes! I went a month ago and it is a top London restaurant for sure. Though I didn’t have the langoustine dish, judging by the order of dishes in your piece, we had a dish of quail served three days which was really top notch, but now I want to go back for the langoustine 🤦🏻♂️
Da Terra is so not my kind of restaurant but I love it! ‘Catching onto our attitude’ - love that