For more than a decade, the Center of São Paulo has been experiencing a happy movement of renewal of the gastronomic and cultural scene. Janaína Rueda was one of the precursors of this movement. A resident of the region, she decided to invest her talent and best energy in a restaurant-bar that, we can say, became the cornerstone for so many others that would come from there. The 12 years of Bar da Dona Onça were celebrated in style, and the You Must Go was there present. Janaína welcomed customers, friends and all the Orixás to celebrate her own birthday – and that of the Bar –, in an event that has been a tradition for 9 years, called Águas de Janaína.
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Águas de Janaína, at Bar da Dona Onça
12 years of Bar da Dona Onça
At the foot of one of the most iconic buildings in the city, Copan, designed in the 1950s by the emblematic architect Oscar Niemeyer, it is at Bar da Dona Onça that you will find classic bar portions and dishes characteristic of popular Brazilian cuisine. Wife of chef Jefferson Rueda, from the acclaimed A Casa do Porco, Janaína says that the first lunch served there “made a splash” in the first week of Dona Onça’s opening. The name, in fact, is a tribute to the jaguar, one of the cook’s passions, as she prefers to be called. And to this day, the recipes served there continue to be a success.
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The menu
In the kitchen, Janaína performs her alchemy in pressure cooker dishes, mixing stories and Brazilian ingredients. If you are reading us, you have not yet had the experience of tasting one of their dishes, plan to sit at one of the popular tables and try the famous and already renowned “The Modernist Galinhada”. After resting overnight in an exquisite marinade, Dona Onça’s free-range chicken is pressure cooked with a succulent broth, plus rice al dente. The final touch is the yolk cured in a mixture of sake and fermented soybeans which, when broken, spreads and adds even more creaminess to the dish.
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Free-range chicken rice with okra
The menu is divided into “rice”, “boiled and roasted”, “offal”, “to be dipped on bread”, “pasta made here” and “made to order”. In other words, there are options for all tastes. In addition, there is also Prato do Dia, where the chef prepares special dishes for each day of the week. As night falls, the dimly lit atmosphere makes Bar da Dona Onça an interesting setting for a dinner for two. In addition, the restaurant also offers snacks to snack on, such as spinach fritters with rice and grana padano cheese and the famous free-range chicken drumstick. To accompany it, it’s worth choosing the version of cashew friend made with a delicious fruit compote and cachaça.
The drumsticks
The event
Every year, chef Janaína hosts Águas para Janaína, in celebration of her and the bar’s birthday. In this edition, there were flowers, scented water, Vai-Vai drums and stalls serving food such as moqueca, quiabada with shrimp and the chef’s famous feijoada.
Vai-Vai Drums
Therefore, as “Dona Onça” herself says: “From now on, and for as long as you stay here, we will be responsible for your happiness.” Does anyone doubt it?
By Carla Fiorito and Duda Vétere.
Photos: Rogério Gomes and Disclosure
