Lasai
Brazil
Lasai is a restaurant in Humaitá, Rio de Janeiro, at Largo dos Leões 35, created by chef Rafa Costa e Silva and Malena Cardiel. It occupies an old Rio house and presents itself as a modern but informal dining room. Michelin places it in the city’s modern, innovative dining category, which matches a place that keeps the emphasis on food, service and a tightly managed guest experience rather than a broad à la carte offer. The restaurant works around a single tasting menu and accepts guests by reservation only. Its own description says the menu changes with the seasons, drawing on Brazilian ingredients from the chefs’ gardens and from small farmers in Rio de Janeiro. Vegetables are strongly featured, alongside fish and meat, and the kitchen uses modern techniques to build dishes around what is currently available and at its best. A central part of Lasai’s identity is its gardens, which the restaurant identifies as being in Itanhangá and Vale das Videiras. These plots feed ingredients and ideas into the kitchen, alongside produce from organic fairs, the sea and the land. The result is a menu built on freshness and variation, with the restaurant’s own material stressing seasonal produce rather than fixed dishes or a long list of choices. Michelin describes the room as a 10-seat counter dining experience, with air conditioning and valet parking among the practical facilities. It also notes an optional wine pairing and advises advance booking and punctual arrival because service starts at the same time for everyone. Taken together, these details point to an intimate restaurant where the counter setting, single menu and seasonal kitchen shape a focused evening in Rio de Janeiro.