SÃO PAULO’S EVVAI RESTAURANT EVOLVES ORIUNDI MENU
words by FRANCESCO PIZZUTI
At EVVAI, the new Oriundi tasting menu confirms the restaurant’s position as one of the most rigorous and consistent fine-dining projects in Latin America. Rooted in the idea of Italian immigrant cuisine shaped by Brazilian ingredients and techniques, the menu is less about fusion and more about immersive cultural translation.
Under Chef Luiz Filipe Souza, technique is sharpened to the point of transparency. Nothing here performs without purpose. Opening gestures like the tramezzino reimagined through savory meringue, bluefin tuna, and pitanga, set the tone; familiar forms, destabilized just enough to call for attention. The scallop bomb, an EVVAI constant since 2017, returns, now with its duck-fat-fried shell encasing green tomato, lardo, and fresh scallop.
Regarding the creative process, the chef comments:
“The menu always emerges from prolonged research. First, I investigate the ingredient, its history and its limits. Only then do I decide the technique and the construction. When the dish reaches the table, I want it to provoke reflection without losing clarity - to be immediate in flavor and profound in intention.”
In the new Oriundi menu, elements like temperature operate as an intentional creative devices. Pasta e fagioli arrives cold, completely altering the winter comfort dish through a totally new texture. A monochrome moqueca of squid and pupunha preserves purity and aroma through specific extraction techniques. The heart of the menu leans richer — duck in tucupi, wild boar in two textures, a deeply satisfying lasagna of tongue and tail — but everything stays balanced and controlled.
Desserts by Bianca Mirabili keep the same energy: Cupuaçu Absoluto explores the fruit through layered textures, acidity, and temperature, while Mandioca — made with fermented puba, coconut milk, egg yolk, and black tucupi toffee — finishes the meal on a warmer note.
All in all, the Oriundi menu at EVVAI is about movement, about migration. It’s about what cuisine becomes when memory, creativity, and precision are allowed to coexist without compromise.
