The first time I heard of chef Helena Rizzo was at “Paladar – Cozinha do Brasil”, the three-day food event I was invited to in São Paulo. Her name was on everyone’s lips and whomever I spoke to, they urged me not to miss her workshop.
Rizzo showed us how to prepare feijoada, the national bean dish, except that Rizzo’s feijoada, which I subsequently had in her restaurant, Mani, is quite unlike any other you will ever have: a beautiful and delicate creation where the beans are not beans at all, but wobbly, brown drops with an intense taste of feijoada and a texture that is part mousse, part jelly, without being like either.
Regular feijoada is served with slightly bitter local greens that are thinly shredded and boiled, plus toasted manioc flour (farofa). Rizzo deep-fries the shredded greens until crisp to create a striking contrast in textures, and she arranges her farofa in a thin line on the side of the plate to finish off a stunning dish, both to look at and to eat.
The evening I dined at Mani, Rizzo organised a tasting menu, and all but one dish were sensational. Even the gigantic bubbly crackers that seemed to have come straight out of a science-fiction film were totally moreish.
We started with cheese lollipops (made with small fried cubes of a hard Brazilian cheese called figo), which were scrumptious and fun. Our next degustation – an apple jelly served with a gorgonzola emulsion and a celery sorbet – combined fresh, heady and silky tastes and textures to a dazzling effect. This was followed by an intriguing tartare of scallop, served in peanut milk and topped with a thin film of cardamom caramel – a subtle yet tasty creation that was followed by lychees filled with foie gras and set in a Sauternes jelly. These proved to be a succulent and playful twist on the classic. Only the lamb served with root vegetables was fairly predictable, albeit perfectly executed.
As for her desserts, they are just as pretty and exotic as her savoury dishes. I particularly liked the asahi (fruit from the Amazon) sorbet, which came resting on diaphanous discs of red guarana (an Amazon berry) jelly and banana slices.
Rizzo’s cooking is both delightful and clever, and her restaurant just as enchanting, made of a series of airy rooms that give one the impression of sitting in a garden. My evening there would have been perfect but for one detail: the music. Its continuous, grating beat simply didn’t suit the lovely setting and exquisite food.
Mani, Rua Joaquim Antunes, 210 Jardim Paulistano, São Paulo, tel: +55 11 3085 4148, www.restaurantemani.com.br (closed Mondays and Sunday evenings)
