SushiSamba London

SushiSamba is located on the 38th Floor at the Heron Tower near Liverpool Street Station, London. It opened its doors about four weeks ago. I heard so much about SushiSamba  New York I was curious to try the London branch.  We made reservations on a Monday lunchtime. Once we got  into the building we took the express lift to SushiSamba. I am glad no one told me about the lift’s speed beforehand, It was so fast going up I had  sweaty palms.  Once we reached the restaurant we were greeted by very smiley front of the house. There were a army of staff waiting for the lunchtime rush which didn’t materialised.

table setting

Once seated our Brazilian waiter handed over the very expensive drinks and the Brazilian/Peruvian/Japanese food menu.  He also helped us choose a budget  Portuguese wine bottle to accompany our meal. The wine menu is very extensive it looked like a book.  It’s an all day food menu, so it doesn’t matter what time of the day you go it’s always the same price/food and no set menu or cheaper lunchtime menu. I always like to order things from a restaurant menu that are either too messy to cook at home or dishes/ingredients that are hard to find. In this case I found quite difficult as I can cook all the South American dishes in the menu. That day we were concentrating in the Samba side of SushiSamba. After taking the order, our waiter showed us around the restaurant, the wrap-around large balconies with stunning views over London, open kitchen and fiery robata grill and the Tree Bar.  The place is nicely decorated with leather chairs and it’s very spacious.

Green bean tempura with black truffle aioli and  Seafood Seviche

Green bean tempura with black truffle aioli  –  the black pepper and truffle aioli was flavoursome and delicious. Seafood Seviche was a bit bland it didn’t resembled the seviche I know and love. The corn tamales: peruvian corn and breaded succotash, coriander cress, serve with huancaína paste decorated with a very sweet chicha morada paste this dish was very tasty. Chicha morada is made from purple corn, native to the Peruvian Andes, usually served as a non-alcoholic drink. The huancaína sauce is usually of a thick liquid, the one we had was a very thick paste. In Peru, salsa a la huancaína is served with boiled yellow potatoes a dish called papa a la huancaína or with yucca frita (fried cassava).

Corn tamales – they were tasty and good texture, but I felt it need the usual aji sauce, which was no where to be seeing…

Black cod miso and pickled green apples, my favorite dish on the day the pickled apples were a great accompaniment to the cod.

Moqueca mista:  this is a very famous Brazilian dish

A selection of soft Japanese rice cake filled with ice cream: mochi – mango, green tea, pineapple and sesame – it was a nice end to our meal.

The staff was very attentive and courteous. The setting is fabulous but I felt that something was missing a bit of soul and vibrancy perhaps?  The menu left me a bit confused with ingredients and textures that does not matched the Peruvian and Brazilian food I know of. This time we concentrated on the Samba side of SushiSamba.  We will be back to try the Sushi side of SushiSamba.

The Tree Bar – the best area of them all. The cocktail menu looks interesting with the usual alcoholic spirits mixed with pisco, cachaca, some oriental and tropical ingredients – nothing too exotic. A good place to go for a drink after work on the few British Summer evenings.

KAFFIRINHA : Fragrant kaffir lime leaves infused cachaça, lime and sugar  elegant and fragrant twist on the Brazilian classic served over crushed ice was absolutely delectable.

SUSHISAMBA London
110 BishopsGate
London, EC2N 4AY
www.sushisamba.com

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