Picture of Raizes, E2 9EG

Raizes, E2 9EG

  • 460 Hackney Road

Raizes was a Brazilian restaurant in Bethnal Green, near Cambridge Heath Station. According to Google Street View, it closed down by June 2016.

The information below is retained for historical purposes.

Brazilian restaurant in Bethnal Green, near Cambridge Heath Station. They do takeaway and delivery, and you can order online via Just Eat. As well as the regular menu, they also have an all-you-can-eat buffet in the evenings (all day on weekends) including a rodizio (grilled meats on skewers) option.

Inside, it's dim and cosy. There's also a small conversatory area out the back, light and bright with decking underfoot.

Kake and Giles visited on a Wednesday lunchtime in September 2012. We were the only customers throughout our visit. Music was playing, not too loud.

Pão de queijo (cheese buns made with cassava flour; £3 for six small buns) photo were served warm; they were certainly very cheesy, and had an interesting texture which was a little doughy for Kake's taste, though Giles liked them.

Feijoada (pork and black bean stew; £5.70 for a starter-size portion) photo was a rich and flavourful stew of fresh belly pork, cured pork, and black beans, garnished with a slice of orange. Some of the meat was still on the bone, and the belly pork cuts included the fat and skin, slow-cooked to a tender and gelatinous texture. It came with a shaker of roasted cassava flour, which we were instructed to mix into the dish to taste; this thickened the sauce up very nicely.

Mandioca frita (deep-fried cassava; £5.90) photo was a huge portion, larger than we needed, nicely fried with a crisp exterior. It came with a small and sadly undressed green salad.

Arroz carreteiro (£3.50) photo, literally "oxcart driver's rice" or "wagoner's rice", was translated here as "special Brazilian rice". The rice was cooked with mixed meats including beef and some kind of sausage, along with chopped peppers. Despite the red tinge to this dish, it wasn't particularly spicy-hot (and as far as we know isn't supposed to be).

Although they have various interesting-looking cocktails on the menu photo of drinks menu, we decided to stick to soft drinks. Cupuaçú juice (£2.80), made from the fruit of a rainforest tree related to the cocoa plant, was nicely sharp, not too sweet, with a melony aftertaste.

Two bottles of chilli sauce were delivered to our table with the food, and after a little conversation with the manager a couple more also appeared, labelled with the names of the chillies they were made from (bode and cumari).

Kake's verdict: I'd like to come back and explore more of the menu.

Accessibility: A small step to get in. Some of the seating is on the same level, some is on a dais, and some is in the conservatory area (another step or two). Toilets are down more steps with no handrail.

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Last visited by Kake and Giles, September 2012.
Last edited 2017-02-02 15:08:15 (version 6; diff). List all versions.