Nilson Chaves' Brazil

From small-town stews to redefining Brazilian cuisine in Rio de Janeiro, the Bossa chef has been at the forefront of his country’s gastronomic renaissance and is reinterpreting the flavours for his next London launch

The Rio de Janeiro of Nilson Chaves’ childhood is very different from the city the chef returns to now. ‘It was a miscellaneous melting pot,’ he says. ‘It’s always been where Brazilians go for beaches, for holidays, to celebrate life – but it didn’t have its own identity.

In two short decades all that has changed. Nationwide, there’s been a seismic shift in Brazil’s gastronomic narrative. Now, when Nilson returns to Botafogo – once an offbeat neighbourhood 20 minutes south of Rio’s city centre – it’s a hotbed of creativity, celebrating Brazil’s modern cuisine: there are natural Brazilian wines and locally brewed beers. Delis sell regional cheeses, single-estate chocolate, gelato made from exotic fruits, and restaurants look to the wealth of indigenous ingredients on their doorstep.

At the heart of the movement is Oteque – the seafood restaurant Nilson founded along with fellow Brazilian-born chef Alberto Landgraf. The tasting menu reads like a love letter to the country’s vast coastline and the teeming seas beyond: slipper lobster glazed heads are elevated into a glossy mayonnaise – and dishes might be paired with a sauvignon blanc from Arte Da Vinha, a winery in Rio Grande do Sul.

It’s a long way from the food of Nilson’s childhood, growing up in the highland town of Vassouras, 120km inland from Rio. There, colonial-era coffee estates had given way to pastureland, and although cattle grazed the grassy slopes year-round, the regional cuisine was more one-pot beef stews than thick, prime steak. Countryside restaurants were simple, often serving variations on the national dish, feijoada – a black bean stew containing off-cuts: pigs’ ears or tails, cows’ feet, braised for hours. It was a long way from the all-you-can-eat rodízio reputation Brazil’s cuisine had somehow exported overseas.

Nilson’s early food recollections are typical of the formal-informal hodge-podge dishes passed-down through the generations. On his father’s side was a neat, traditional Portuguese grandmother who emigrated to Brazil aged seven and who spent whole days in the kitchen making egg-yolk marmalade and yolk-enriched cakes. As a child, Nilson often spent weekends on her smallholding. ‘She kept chickens, ducks, rabbits, quails. When I arrived we’d go and pick a duck, kill it, pluck it and cook it together for these sit-down family meals that stretched out long into the afternoon,’ he says. Nilson’s mother was one of 11, so on that side of the family cooking resembled a military operation.

‘My grandmother was like an army chef,’ he laughs, describing how she’d harangue the kitchen: one in charge of rice, one in charge of black beans. ‘Often there were 50 or 60 of us, so we’re talking 10kg braised meat, two chickens, three ducks, 5kg roast potatoes. while the guys sat outside playing cards and drinking beer. My cousins and I would wait until the end, then grab a plate, pick a spot in the backyard and all sit and eat together.’

The kitchen had always been a happy place for Nilson, but when he moved to Rio de Janeiro aged 18 it was to pursue a career in law. Cooking became purely functional: ‘just survival, not a passion’. Yet after waning on all fronts. ‘In my last year at law school I lost any ambition to practise law and I didn’t know what to do.’

While grappling with his next move, he came across The Alain Ducasse Foundation (ADF), recently launched in Rio, and signed up. Immediately Nilson knew he was in the right place. ‘I picked up everything quickly, things came easily to me.It was a shock – in a good way,’ he grins. The course taught formal French techniques, but looked to Brazilian ingredients and dishes – taking feijoada, for example, and transforming it into a traditional-style dish. 'Brazil's cuisine has never lacked flavour, but it lacked formality - there was no written code or formal technique that can be taught like there is in Europe,' Nilson says, 'but suddenly here's this big French chef celebrating our humble dishes, helping us approach things in a new way.'

It came at a time when the national cuisine was going through something of a renaissance, growing in confidence and creativity. In 2012, D.O.M. (São Paulo) ranked forth on The World's 50 Best list, catapulting to fame chef Alex Atala's banana ravioli and palm heart fettuccine. Then, in 2014, Helena Rizzo, chef at Maní (São Paulo) was named Best Female Chef of the Year - thanks to her wizardry with ingredients like tucupí - made from the liquid extracted from yuca, which is fermented and seasoned. 'The world started to see us, to understand and value Brazilian chefs,' Nilson says. 'It coincided with this wave of young chefs returning from training abroad - it gave them confidence to carve out their own identities rather than just copying the dishes they'd learned.'

A clarity and precision surrounding 'modern brazilian cuisine' soon emerged. Previously, the country's magpie cuisine had evolved organically reflecting Brazil's rich tapestry - a culmination of native and imported flavours. There are the set custards from the arrival of the Portuguese in the 16th century and strong West African Atlantic slave trade, still particularly prominent in the north eastern state of Bahi. Here you'll find bowls of acarajé (black-eyed pea and shrimp fritters) flavoured with dendê palm oil, or vatapá (an Afro-Brazilian stew of coconut milk, bread, finely ground peanuts and shrimps). Waves of subsequent immigration continued to shape the restaurant scene - São Paulo has the largest Japanese community outside Japan, then there are Lebanese, Italian and German enclaves. In the early 2000s it was easy to find decent sushi or pizza, but less so anything that celebrated Brazil's own culinary identity.

Nilson explains it was the overseas training that initially equipped Bazilian chefs to carve out their own style. He continues to put a strong emphasis on the importance of methodology. 'You need the right tools, the right techniques. You have to keep going, keep doing the same thing every day, tweaking and tweaking until it's just right,' he says. 'The creativity manifests in the choice of ingredients and flavour combinations - and what bettwe source of inspiration than Brazil?' The cehf alludes to the 7,400km of coastline, teeming with yellowtail, snapper, fresh squid and red prawns, hearty dishes from the Mantiqueira Mountains, and the 60 per cent rainforest coverage, laden with fruits relatively unknown to the rest of the world: cupuaçu, caju, cambuci. It’s these informal, once-roadside ingredients and dishes that now appear on the hottest menus up and down the country: sarapatel (offal stew) at Mocotó, pirão fish porridge at Maní, the cajá cake at Oro.

With the world opening up to authentic Brazilian flavours, it's little surprise Chaves' and Landgraf's successful run continued when they launched Bossa in 2023 - shaping the flair and flavour of Brazil to fit the precision of Mayfair's fine-dining scene. Only, as of this month, the restaurant is opening a new chapter, relaunching as Maroto and taking inspiration from the tradition of boteco - Brazilian tapas bars with a bohemian edge. Nilson talks of scallops with tucupí sauce and pão de queijo (cassava dough-baked cheese breads) to accompany the Cachaça-heavy cocktail list. The marked difference? It will be more loungey ('come for the vibe, stay for the food' - so perhaps it's full circle back to those meals of Nilson's childhood, sprawled out in the garden, belly full and brimming with joy.

NILSON'S HOTSPOTS

LASAI, RIO DE JANEIRO Incredible, artful modern Brazilian cuisine in a historic setting, using locally sourced ingredients, often from the chef’s garden. lasai.com.br

OTEQUE, RIO DE JANEIRO If you’re going to do one tasting menu in Brazil, make it this one. Sure, I’m biased, but it’s as good as ever, and there’s a wonderful wine pairing too. oteque.com

METZI, SÃO PAULO An incredible fusion of Mexican techniques with Brazilian ingredients by husband-and-wife team (Mexican) Eduardo Navo Ortiz and (Brazilian) Luana Sabino. metzi.com.br

FAME, SÃO PAULO This is an intimate dining room, with a menu that honours the long Italian heritage in the city.
00 55 11 99364 4442

QUARTINHO, RIO DE JANEIRO It’s quite funky, quite vibey, all mismatched furniture and great Bloody Marys – with creative, small plates. 0 55 21 2179 6447

TAN TAN, SÃO PAULO A very cool underground bar. The cocktail menu is fantastic, as are the spicy noodles, and the owner, Thiago Bañares, has such a big heart. 00 55 11 2373 3587

COPACABANA PALACE, RIO DE JANEIRO As the most prestigious, iconic hotel in Brazil, this is an amazing place to spend a couple of nights. belmond.com

POUSADA LITERÁRIA DE PARATY, RIO DE JANEIRO
A colonial mansion in the heart of Paraty’s old town, tastefully converted into a boutique hotel, replete with a beautiful pool in a stunning location. pousadaliteraria.com.br

Words by Rachel Walker.

This article was taken from the March 2024 issue of Food and Travel. To subscribe today, click here.