Food

Bar Fox: Sake tasting, a raw seafood and fired meats joint and sizzling Spanish in Soho

Find yourself endlessly searching for cool places to eat, drink and be merry? Relax – weve got your back.

Every week well bring you our tried-and-tested, hottest selection of bars, restaurants, cafes, street food hot spots and generally fun places to hangout across the weekend (and who are we kidding, way beyond – Mondays are always way better with a Margarita).

Well bring you a big fat, fresh Bar Fox every Thursday – but if we discover anything ridiculously awesome at any other time, youll get the emergency update.

Where to eat and drink this week…

Sake tasting at the Japan Centre

Bar Fox: Sake tasting, raw seafood and fired meats and sizzling new Spanish in Soho
Demystify the world of sake with a sake tasting at the Japan Centre – you can get your favourites mailed to your door each month too with the subscription service

If like us you have a passion for sake but your knowledge could do with some polish, make your merry way to the Japan Centre where youll find us working our way through the sake menu.

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The newest Japan Centre on Panton Street opened just last year and is now holding sake tastings to help demystify the drink and help you navigate your way around the world of Junmais, Gekkeikans and Shochikikubais until you find your sake spirit animal.

They also have a seemingly endless in-store and online selection of sake ranging from £5 to £310, including plenty of sparkling sake options (we like to take a very pretty bottle of this instead of prosecco or champers) as well as cloudy sakes – called Nigori – that we may or may not have been drinking quite a lot this summer chilled in a flute with a slice of lime to bring out the flavour.

There is an in-store sake sommelier on hand too (job envy) who can help with suggestions, food pairing and more.

OH – and if you want sake delivered to your door once a month, because what kind of monster would you be if you didnt, you can order your favourites to come to you via their sake subscription service – either a surprise sake with a Japanese snack each month, delivered to your door, or sakes youve picked yourself from the day.

At Japan Centre Panton Street, 35b Panton Street, SW1Y 4EA (click for Google Maps link). Contact the store for dates of tastings. Ticketed tastings are also planned and will feature on the website.

Raw seafood bar, fired meats and a banging wine list, well hello St Leonards!

Sizzling seafood at St Leonards
Ridiculously succulent seafood at St Leonards

Hot new seafood and fire joint from chefs Andrew Clarke and Jackson Boxer of Brunswick House fame (the best thing about Vauxhall to happen…ever) has arrived in Shoreditch.

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A sleek, almost monastic place that really lets the seafood bar and huge wood-fired oven pit do the talking. Start with all the oysters and the ridiculously juicy Cherrystone clam with ginger vinegar, sichuan oil and coriander. Veggies here are insanely good, so much so a plate of wood-fired onions disappeared in micro-seconds.

The brill with raw carabiniero prawns was delicious but insanely pricey at £22…

Tamworth pork was everything youd want it to be…smoky and succulent. Topped off with a 200 strong wine list, St Leonards is definitely a keeper, a pricey one but like LOreal shes worth it.

70 Leonard Street, London EC2A 4QX, stleonards.london

Sabor – some seriously sexy Spanish action from ex-Barrafina chef

Sabor - where the chefs move at lightening speed to get your dishes to you
Sabor – where the chefs move at lightning speed to get your dishes to you

If you havent heard of Barrafina, well, where have you been quite frankly?? Winner of the UKs best restaurant multiple times, this Spanish mecca of moreish was cheffed up by Nieves Barragán Mohacho.

Opening Sabor in Londons Heddon Street was a very strong move for her indeed, Nieves has created another slice of Spanish gastronomic goodness complete with vermouth or vermút on tap and some of the hottest counter dining spots in town.

Sabor
Sabor on Heddon St is run by ex-Barrafina chef

Eat the chipiron en su tinta with hake and alioli, octopus with paprika soaked potatoes for a seriously pimped Pulpo Gallego, the chorizo tortilla was oozing and perfect, croquetas crispy and cheesy.

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Sip on an aromatic vermút or try some their extensive Spanish gins, the Glop from Menorca was good-punchy with a strong juniper kick.

35-37 Heddon Street, London W1B 4BR, saborrestaurants.co.uk

GOT YOUR OWN INSIDER TIPS?

For a slice of summer sun head down to The Ivy Chelsea Garden – make sure you grab a terrace table. The green juice, made from cucumber, elderflower and lemon, was refreshing and light, and oh so virtuous.

We started with steak tartare, seasoned to perfection, with mains of chicken and quinoa salad and watermelon, feta and tomato salad. Id highly recommend the latter – bursting with flavour and so fresh, it showed up the overcooked and under-seasoned chicken, which at £16 was also more expensive.

You could spend a whole afternoon eating, chatting and drinking in this beautiful restaurant. – RL, A Little Lusciousness

Why not give us your own suggestions and reviews, or just say hi. Hit us up at [email protected]. Include pics, details and your twitter/facebook/insta post of your discovery – or just your name – and well give you a link up or just a namecheck.

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