The New Spanish Restaurant That Deserves Your Attention
You know you need to pay attention when Nieves Barragán Mohacho, the chef behind Heddon Street’s Sabor, announces that she’s opening a new restaurant. As someone who’s been to the one-Michelin-starred Sabor at least three times (and will happily go again soon), I knew I felt a dire need to see what Legado was all about as soon as I heard about it.
A contemporary Spanish restaurant, Legado, which translates from Spanish to “legacy”, feels like a love letter to Spain’s food and drink, but where lesser-known dishes and ingredients shine. I visited during fashion week, so before I turned the corner to get to Legado, I found myself face-to-face with the fashion week crowd gathered outside Protein Studio. Chic-looking influencers posed for pictures while photographers used the graffiti-covered Shoreditch walls as their backdrop, and I gladly faded into oblivion in the background and walked unnoticed to my safe place, where the food, not the fashion, is the showstopper.
What sets it apart
London has a host of Spanish restaurants that do a great job of serving you classic, much-loved recipes – but Legado goes a step further and introduces you to dishes you might never have heard of. It’s an unfamiliar territory, but it’s served to you from a highly reliable source. The interiors are earthy and play with green, plaster pink and terracotta. When you walk in, you don’t expect the space to be so large, and the dramatic 64-seat dining room is flooded with light when I walk in on a Saturday afternoon. When you see the open kitchen with the chefs expertly navigating sauces, meats and fish right in front of you, something tells you that you’re in good hands.
Nieves champions unsung regional dishes and recipes that may seem unfamiliar for the London audience – but it’s all the more reason to try it.
Our experience
On the wall behind our corner table, there is exposed brickwork, and across from me is what I always love to see – a wall of wine. The view makes up for the fact that I have some FOMO at not being seated at the counter, where you can watch the chefs whip up dishes and prepare plates. It’s all in the details here. The restaurant has two hand-built ovens (one for lamb, the other for pork), installed by craftsmen from Madrid, and there’s a tapas and pintxos bar with indoor and outdoor seating. There was a mix of families, couples and groups around us, and it felt like the kind of place that works equally well for a family day out or even a solo meal at the counter. With its soothing interiors, the focus is rightly on the food. The staff knows the menu in and out, and if you’re confused, just go with their recommendations.
The staff knows the menu in and out, and if you’re confused, just go with their recommendations.
What we ordered
The experience begins with a three-sip serve, a choice of a vegetable and fruit-based cocktail served chilled but without ice. I went for the beetroot and rum one, and my friend ordered the peach with vermut. They come served in gorgeous little ceramic mugs, each one different from the other, and designed to represent unique parts of Spain. The drinks set the tone for the rest of the meal, and really wake up your palate in preparation for the feast that lies ahead.
First, the quisquillas de cádiz arrive – these are what I’m told is a local delicacy served raw save for the heads, which are fried until crisp and dressed up in a citrus and soy sauce with a coriander-infused olive oil. We chose the orzo with crisp fried lamb sweetbread and lovage from the rice and pulses section, which feels like a bowl of goodness and flavour – like something your mum might have made for you as a special treat.
It feels like something your mum might have made for you as a special treat.
Something I was eager to try was the Legado sandwich – a dish that goes far beyond any ordinary sandwich you might have had. It’s a two-day process to make this, I hear, and it comes packed with Swiss chard, Cecina (a Spanish cured beef) and smoked cheese and then fried in breadcrumbs. What makes it all the more special and definitely one to order is that it’s a dish that’s a fond memory from Nieves’ grandmother’s kitchen.
It’s impossible not to notice the plates of suckling pig or “Segovian cochinillo” that arrive on tables nearby one after the other – it’s clearly what the people want. The meat comes from award-winning farms across Spain, from suckling pig that’s sourced from Tabladillo el Cochinillo in Segovia in the north of Madrid, to the ham that travels to London from a company called Señorío de Montanera, based out of Extremadura, a western Spanish region bordering Portugal – producers that Nieves’ own family favoured while she was growing up. The suckling pig at Sabor is possibly the best I’ve had in my life, so I was eager to try it here as well – slow-roasted in the special ovens, the skin is golden and crispy while the tender meat slides off the bone, just like it’s done in Segovia. A traditional Castilian preparation, the meat is carved with a plate – no knives necessary.
Now, back to that wine wall – the restaurant celebrates traditional and emerging wines from across Spain, so you can find bottles from artisan producers to classic fine wines. The sommelier came over to help us with our wine selection, and after we told him what we ordered to eat, he recommended a nice light white to start, and a red to go with the meaty mains.
For dessert, we ordered the churros with dulce de leche – although there are other options like a pastel vasco (a traditional Basque cake) with sour cherry jam that I was sad to miss. I can’t resist ordering churros when I see them on the menu, and the dulce de leche was perfectly creamy and sweet.
The wine menu feels like something that must be studied, as well as celebrated.
The verdict
Legado feels like the younger, more relaxed sister of Sabor – it’s clear they’re both from the same family, but each one still has their own personality. While Sabor is noisier and busier (let’s just say it’s great food amidst a bit of friendly chaos), Legado has more space between the tables, there’s more room to linger, and it blends in with Shoreditch-cool. Legado has the air of being a restaurant that feels intensely personal, and you can feel that strong connection with Spain through everything from its interiors to the food. It’s almost as though someone told Nieves – What would you do if you could open your dream restaurant and serve anything you like? The interiors are dreamy, and the food is the stuff you’ll think about even after you exit from Old Street station. It’s hard to arrive in Shoreditch and immediately grab people’s attention, but Legado does it almost effortlessly.
