D.O.M. restaurant June 5th, 2008. Sao Paulo, Brazil

D.O.M. restaurant is located in one of the nicest parts of Sao Paulo, it has nice lighting, dark and intimate wood tones to the main dining hall with a mezzanine that seats about 12 people for private parties.  The kitchen is in open view located on the northeast corner of the restaurant with a glass wall separating the diners from the heated bustle of service.

Run by Chef Alex Atala, a former DJ that on his travels through Europe discovered fine food and worked at several restaurants in Belgium and France. D.O.M. is now the pinnacle of international fine dining in Brazil, having garnered just about every top award for food and service in Brazil, as well as currently being ranked as the #40 restaurant in the world by UK's Restaurant Magazine top 50 list.

walking into D.O.M.:

 

Dinner cost a total of 250 dollars per person for the 8 course tasting menu, including wine and service.

We started with several amuse bouche. From left to right: Tuna quenelles, french butter with chives and fleur de sel, Cambuci pepper from the amazon, from the northwest of brazil Coalho cheese mousse with black pepper and not pictured, an entire head of garlic fried in olive oil. We were also offered 5 varieties of bread at this time, all good quality.

1st course: raw Robalo (Snook) and Squid marinated in Soy sauce, Summer fruits and Melaço, which is a sweet biproduct from cane sugar processing. it was topped with what looked like beet and radish sprouts. The seafood was of very good quality and the broth fruity and acidic was nice and complemented the fish. I didn't like the soy sauce, I didn't think that it added anything to the dish and it detracted from the locality of a dish that would otherwise be entirely Brazilian.

2nd course: Salad of Zucchini with Langoustine and 12 different Brazilian herbs with a tangerine vinaigrette.  The raw zucchini ribbons had nice texture and the herbs brought a great flavor to the salad, the Langoustine was served cold and barely cooked (if at all.) The herbs were all very lightly dressed which let each of their individual flavors to come through. This, I believe is a kind of Brazilian rendition of Michel Bras famous Gargouillou salad and both me and my father agreed it is probably one of the best salads we've tasted.

3rd course: fried brioche-breaded Oyster with tapioca and salmon roe. The oyster was delicious, creamy on the inside with nice texture from the brioche breadcrumbs. the salmon roe added a nice brinyness to the dish and it looked just like the little tapioca pearls which worked well.

4th course: Coconut 'risotto' with palm oil and nori. I didn't enjoy this dish, the nori added some texture to what would otherwise be an oily creamy mess. The palm oil overwhelmed any other flavor that would be in the dish although I tasted some soy sauce in it too.

5th course: pan-seared Foie Gras with bonito broth, Cashew roasted and sorbet, and fried wild rice. This was a great dish! The bonito broth had a nice sweetness to it which went nice with the rich, perfectly cooked piece of foie gras. the wild rice added a great crunch to the dish.

6th course: Robalo seared and lightly dusted with manioc flour with tapioca pearls and a robalo foam. Nicely cooked piece of fish with good texture from the manioc flour but there was little flavor from the tapioca or the foam.

7th course: Brazilian 'Brandade' with Hearts of Palm and Anchovy, port reduction. Clever idea replacing the traditional french dish of Cod and Potato with Hearts of Palm and Anchovy but the strong tasting anchovy overpowered the mild nuttyness from the Palm.

8th course: Roasted Paca with a white bean mousse and lemon butter sauce. Paca is a large roadent from the northwest of Brazil. It was very fatty and had a delicious crisp skin, the lemon butter sauce was nice in cutting through the fattyness of the meat but the atrocity of the dish was the bean mousse that was extremely gummy, coated the palate and was hard to eat.

Intermezzo: Paca Consomme. This was pretty bad. My father and I took one sip and cringed a bit. I tried drinking it down but it was painful. The table next to us that received this same drink took one sip and left it on the table. It tasted of paca with a hint of cinammon but it wasn't pleasent at all.

Cheese course: Aligot made with Minas cheese. Another Brazilian twist on a french classic, Aligot from the south of france traditionally made with Tomme cheese. It had great flavor and nice texture. A clever way to do a cheese course but my only complaint was that it was a little monotonous to eat, it would have been nice if it had been served with something like a fruit compote or some bread. Our server had the cheese spinning between two spoons all the way from the kitchen and brought it to our plates. A bit gimmicky presentation but I thought it was neat to show how elastic it is.

My dad said, "I think it's going to fall on the ground!" 

Pre-dessert: Mint Ice cream served on an ice block. Tasted very refreshing and a nice palate cleanser.

Dessert: Almond cake with Jack Daniels sorbet and curry chocolate sauce, curry powder. Cake was moist and delicious. The chocolate sauce was velvety smooth and paired beautifully with the curry. a sprinkling of sea salt balanced the sweetness of the dish and the Jack Daniels ice cream had really strong flavor, like taking a shot!

Mignardise: Pate de fruits, Macarons, Chocolate cups and a spongy DOM cake.

D.O.M. Restaurante

Rua Barao de Capanema 549

Sao Paulo, Brazil

(11) 3088-0761