visit the Evvai always raises high expectations. The young chef’s house Luiz Filipe Souza on the border of the Pinheiros and Jardins neighborhoods, won a star Michelin in 2019, which remained until the last edition of the guide in Brazil, and in 2022 won the 14th position of the coveted list The World’s 50 Best Restaurants Latin America, and 67th in the world edition.
The distinctions are reason enough for expectations to be high.
However, the truth is that anyone who has been to Evvai at least once creates expectations not because of the prizes, but because it is a place where, for about two and a half hours (average duration of the tasting menu), each of the times is a gustatory provocation, in which dishes with millimetrically thought-out presentations are not always what they seem. Where the obvious is definitely not that obvious.
Evvai opened its doors in 2017 and, since then, the kitchen has matured dramatically. In a recent post on social networks, Luiz wrote that “the main ingredient in a cook’s career is not salt, but time”.
Certain words and very well represented in its new menu, Oriundi 2023 which – in 13 stages (R$ 737) – presents a mix of techniques, ingredients and flavors from Brazilian and Italian cuisines.
Great spoilers of what the visitor will taste during the night, the snacks arrive in the colors of the Brazilian and Italian flags and, between the red basket of beets with sheep ricotta and murupi pepper; green with asparagus, wagyu and sweet pepper; or the blue one, made with blue spirulina with crab pickled with koshô caramel, the heritage of the great Italian immigration and its influence on the gastronomy of the capital of São Paulo delicately shows its face.
At each stage, an amusing postcard drawn by Luiz Filipe is left on the table. Behind, a text written in the first person, where the chef tells some particularity about the dish.
Between illustrations with Baby Yoda, Snow White and Donald Duck, an animated playlist that goes from Marvin Gaye to Madonna plays in the background, and the service follows in this line. Elegant, but at the same time relaxed, breaking some paradigms that fine dining carries.
Returning to the menu, the famous scallop bomb, present since the first edition of Oriundi, arrives in the now famous dish in the shape of the chef’s hand. It is balanced, at the “fingertips”. Balance is also felt in the flavor of the snack fried in duck fat and roasted, before being finished with scallop crispy.
Other great highlights on the menu are the prawns produced in the deep waters of Santa Catarina that parade their sweet flavor in three versions of the classic chayote with carioca shrimp; the leek with gin and Brazil nuts makes you stop for a few seconds and ask yourself: since when did a simple leek become so impactful?
It is also impossible not to be enchanted by the delicacy of the shell cappuccino with oyster and shellfish hollandaise, which has mini flowers placed one by one around the cup in which it is served.
Source: CNN Brasil
Johanna Foster is an expert opinion writer with over 7 years of experience. She has a reputation for delivering insightful and thought-provoking articles on a variety of subjects. Her work can be found on some of the top online news websites, and she is currently lending her voice to the world stock market.
