Sabor London is a traditional Spanish restaurant which merges the flavours of different regions of Spain in a casual environment. One of the owners, Nieves Barragan, is famed for having been the Michelin-starred chef at Barrafina Restaurant London which has several outlets now. Sabor Mayfair itself is the Michelin star Spanish restaurant London deserves. The Ingredients are fresh, the combination of flavours exquisite but the atmosphere is trendy casual unlike many Michelin starred restaurants.
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Sabor Restaurant London
Along with Barrafina restaurant London, Sabor London is a one Michelin star Spanish restaurant in London. These are the only two of these Michelin star Spanish restaurants in London for which no doubt the talents of Nieves Barragan is greatly responsible.
Sit downstairs at Sabor London you can watch the culinary magic happen behind the counter.
In this Spanish restaurant Picadilly and its chaos seems far away. Located on a blink-and-you-miss-it side street Sabor London is within the respectability of upscale Mayfair. Surrounded by other charming restaurants, Sabor Mayfair is a good tip for the best Spanish restaurant in London. Nieves Barragan herself is from the Basque country and her restaurant is a melange of flavours from Andalusia, Castile, Galicia and the Canary Islands.
The Counter shown below is a walk-in, no reservations required restaurant.
Sabor restaurant London has two separate dining areas – upstairs and downstairs – both of which are elegantly casual.
Sabor Restaurant London has several parts – the downstairs bar and tapas counter and the upstairs El Asador. Upstairs past a pretty spiral staircase, El Asador is named after a traditional wood-fired oven.
Sabor restaurant menu hanging at the downstairs bar
Dining upstairs at the El Asador portion is a communal experience. You share long tables like in a cafeteria or like the casual Japanese London chain, Wagamama.
You can make reservations for up to 5 people in the upstairs El Asador. If space permits, there is also availability for walk-ins. The day we arrived, the restaurant had a line forming about 15 minutes before its opening at noon presumably for the walk-in spaces.
Sabor Restaurant London is known for its Segovian suckling pig roasted in an traditional Spanish asador
Sabor Restaurant Menu
The main Sabor Restaurant menu choices are octopus and suckling pig. You don’t like to eat seafood or pork then your options are limited. The octopus is cooked the Galician way and cooked in copper cans which are stacked up on the counter. The suckling pig is cooked in the traditional Castilian asador.
The Sabor restaurant menu is printed on either a drawing of either a pig or an octopus. You get the picture, right?
The starters are tapas meant to be shared. Below is a selection of the tapas we tried at Sabor London. I actually got thrown by the Tortilla Gallega which was supposed to be like the traditional Tortilla Espanola made of eggs and potatoes. In the Michelin star Spanish restaurant London version, the egg was runny and I have to admit I preferred the non-fancy version!
Empanada Gallega – puff pastry stuffed with tuna and cooked with Marinara Sauce
My companion wanted to try the fried pigs’ ears. I was a little reluctant because my dog likes to chew on pig ears as a treat!! Anyway, these tasted like crisps and were a totally different experience to what I expected. The inside was soft and the outside crisp.
Crisp Pig’s Ears served with quince aioli and hot paprika
The famous octopus were sublime! seriously. Not a thing like calamari or any other octopus dish I have ever tried even in Spain, as good as those dishes have been.
Galician octopus in a paprika sauce
The mains revolve around the suckling pig. You need to preorder the suckling pig when you make the reservation because it takes so long to cook. You have a choice of a quarter, half or whole suckling pig.
I am not even a pork fan but I tried out a little bit. The pork was amazing – tender and delicious and imbued with flavour. I will never love pork like the Spaniards do but even I was super impressed.
1/2 of a Segovian suckling pig which really is sliced in half
The other mains are non-pork options if you are so inclined. I preferred the fish specials which were delicious – perfectly cooked, light and flaky.
The Sabor Restaurant menu had a fish special of the day with baked garlic
The sides for the main dishes involve mostly salads and fries. You know you have to try the fries when there are four variations of the fries! We choose fries with rosemary cheese but there are other options, such as Fries with a sauce from the Canary Islands.
Three of the sides – fries with rosemary cheese, crips artichokes and green salad
Where To Find Sabor Mayfair
Sabor Mayfair is closest to Picadilly Circus station on a charming little side street. It’s got a Mayfair address because when you are looking for a high end Spanish restaurant, Picadilly Circus with its hordes of touristy restaurants doesn’t necessarily spring to mind!
Fresh bread is a real treat at this Spanish restaurant in Picadilly Circus
If your travels don’t take you to Sabor Restaurant London, but you still want to try the flavours of one of the best Spanish restaurant London has to offer, check out SABOR the cookbook. The cookbook, Sabor: Flavours From A Spanish Kitchen, came out in the middle of 2017. As one of the best cookbooks of 2017, I got to try out Sabor before I even went to Sabor Restaurant London.
Bring the flavours of the best Spanish restaurant London with this cookbook published by the chef at Sabor London.
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Sabor Restaurant in London
Along with Barrafina restaurant London, Sabor London is a one Michelin star Spanish
restaurant in London, and one you should make a reservation for. The Ingredients are fresh,
the combination of flavours exquisite but the atmosphere is trendy casual unlike many
Michelin starred restaurants. Check it out!
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