Irajá is a prototype of how Brazilian cooking is flourishing in the hands of talented chefs. The food is by Pedro de Artagão and the restaurant is his contribution to the new forming cuisine of Rio de Janeiro, which got under just a few years ago with such dishes as Claude Troisgros’s bass with a banana and raisin sauce. More significantly, Irajá demonstrates the range of Artagão’s modern cuisine. I visited the restaurants in other trips to Rio, and on my most recent one as well.
His composed plates are carefully thought and perfectly executed. He counts with a team of chefs who believes in him just as much he believes in them. “When I see a talent in the kitchen, I want that person to stay with me, with my company, with my restaurants”. Yes, restaurants, in the plural. Still this year his second restaurant will inaugurate at another neighborhood, in Leblon, at Rua Humberto de Campos.
Botafogo, rarely sought out by tourists, where Irajá is located, has definitely pulled a bunch of gifted chefs into that region, and most restaurants there became a destination, while Leblon, in the heart of Zona Sul, is where most travelers are.
Pedro may be an artist, but has the mindset of an enterpreneur. The perfect combination for a young man with a vision for the city of Rio, and how to make a living doing extaelly who he knows and love: cooking.
After traveling to Switzerland to study hotel management in Lausanne, Artagão came back to Rio and got a job as executive chef at La Guiole, the restaurant of the Modern Museum of Art in Rio, where he worked for 5 years. He also worked for Transamerica Hotel at Barra and trained with renouned names of carioca gastronomy such as Roland Villar, Flavia Quaresma, and Jose Hugo Celidonio.
He made a pact with himself that by the age of 33, he wanted to be the owner of his own restaurant. Goal accomplished. After looking for investor partners, Irajá opened in 2009 to great reviews and have been a part of the carioca scene ever since.
Give this staff a few square inches for plating and something starling appears, a mesmerizing amalgam of Brazilian influences that seem based in native ingredients, but also travel worldwide.
My batata baroa gnocchi with a creamy funghi sauce seemed to have the most aromatic taste that funghi can ever exude. It was gone in a gulp.
Much simpler but just as satisfying was tomato with mozarella, shiny tomatoes with a foamy mozarella and the crunch of a parmesan flour.
Talk about dessert, have you ever had warm brigadeiro cake? If not, you’re missing something.
The room is decidely simple. A black board immediately upon the entrance is a warm greeting
and a bigger one above the kitchen refers to cooking philosophy, ingredients and inspirations.
The hall to the main dinning is long and narrow; as you pass through each window, you get the see every step of the kitchen and the wonders being prepared.
Irajá is another step forward in the brave new culture of rustic décor meets glossy cuisine. There are plenty of brick walls; tables are naked, chairs are comfortable. The ceiling is woodwork, and the ambience is delightful. Pick up the phone and make a reservation.