london

Da Terra

• Modern European• Bethnal Green

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About the restaurant

The Town Hall Hotel, housed in Bethnal Green’s former town hall, is one of the most striking buildings in East London, and Da Terra’s dining room makes full use of its opulent setting while not changing too much in terms of layout from its predecessor, Lee Westcott’s Typing Room. The atmosphere is upbeat, while service is impeccable, as you’d expect from a two-Michelin-starred restaurant.

Da Terra comes from chefs and co-founders Rafael Cagali and Paulo Airaudo, who have collectively worked under chefs including Quique Dacosta, Heston Blumenthal, and Simon Rogan. The food follows suit in combining their experience into something artful, creative and often spectacular. 

The food here is available by tasting menu only (with seven or ten courses on offer), although a shorter five-course option is available at lunch. The chefs’ Italian and Brazilian heritage shines through alongside flavours and textures from Japan and elsewhere in dishes that are truly eclectic, but all the better for it.

Reviews from the Web

Critic reviews

Standard

A parade of exhilarating dishes from a European union of chefs

Time Out

But while this is precise, unimpeachable food, that’s not why you’ll remember it. It’s special because it’s playful. A stunning dish of scallop, with apple marigold ‘snow’ and a poured-at-the-table smoked fennel sauce, was not only served in the shell, gently resting on a bed of black seaweed

The Nudge

But at Da Terra, they only serve tasting menus, and they’re exquisitely good – so good, in fact, that they’ve been awarded two Michelin stars within mere years of opening.