Looking down into the main dining room at Legado
So this is Sabor's sibling, is it?
This is the follow-up restaurant to chef Nieves Barragan's insanely successful (and Michelin-starred) Sabor in Mayfair, yes. But in a lot of ways it's quite a different beast.
How so?
Well, as Sabor focuses primarily on Andalusian and Galician dishes, Nieves has given herself and her team free rein to roam all over Spain for inspiration for the dishes at Legado. As a result, it's got an absolute beast of a menu which, as we'll explain, is going to merit more than a single visit to really get the best out of it. And while Sabor is split into three sections, Legado has only two, the main restaurant and the bar, both of which have different menus.
Where is it?
If you've already made the pilgrimage to the new Singburi, then you'll find this right next door. If you haven't, then what you're searching for is Montacute Yards. That's accessible either directly through an alleyway from Shoreditch High Street (across the road from BAO) or from New Inn Yard if you're coming from Old Street. Shoreditch High Street is the closest station, but Old Street's not that far either.
This is what you're looking for
Where should we meet friends for a drink first?
The obvious answer would be in Legado's bar, The Taberna. This is an all-day spot open for walk-ins only, which they're describing as a tapas and pintxos bar. Tables are inlaid with blackboards with the day's specials written on them, and there are 15 stools here for perching on. The menu here is mostly different to what's available in the restaurant with gildas, bocadilllos and croquetas among the options.
You'll find the bar at Legado just as you enter
If we're dining in the restaurant, where should we sit?
We reckon the best seats in the house are the four stools at the centre of the counter. If you're keen on catching Nieves in the heart of the action, then you couldn't get better. The counter generally is a fun place to be, and this one's beautifully designed. But the main dining room is also a looker - it's a double-height warehouse with a huge skylight, so just as good for lunch as it would be at dinner.
The view from our seat up at the counter
So what actually is on the menu?
After you've made it past the extensive starters section, there are six distinct sections (before you get to dessert), including one devoted to suckling pig and Iberico pork and another that's just as big on vegetables. We tried our best to roam around most of them. Here's what we tried.
Monkfish tempura, chilli jam alioli (£16) - the kind of thing you'd order in a basic Spanish bar and be genuinely happy with until you realised it could taste like this, wafer-light batter and amazing in-house alioli.
The Legado sandwich (£12) - an incredibly clever sandwich where the 'bread' is made from swiss chard, coated in panko crumbs and deep fried before being stuffed with air-dried beef and smoked cheese. A dish that Nieves says harks back to the snacks her grandmother would make for her as a child.
Skate wing tortilla, mojo verde (£22) - obviously, we're not going to a Nieves restaurant and leaving without the tortilla. Here, it's a seafood offering with her trademark soft eggy inside.
Lamb neck empanadilla (£12) - perfect for sharing as a snack, this features slow-cooked lamb neck and is served with the most amazing dipping sauce.
Arroz campero with Lagarto Señorio de Montanera (£24) - from the rice, pulses and pasta section came this wet rice dish cooked in mushroom stock.
Half suckling pig head sprinkled with jamon powder and dotted with lemon gel (£18.50) - we're going to level with you, this was a dish too far for us. We thought we could handle it, but the eyeball begged to differ. If you're a larger group go for the quarter suckling pig which you can share instead.
Chargrilled peppers with lardo (£12) - a good example of the fact that while there are plenty of veg-forward dishes on the menu, there's also a lot of pig popping up in them, so it's not all that great for vegetarians.
Room for dessert?
The dessert menu at Legado is a belter. As someone who leans way more to savoury than sweet, there was so much to choose from here that I was honestly considering what to leave off my earlier orders so I could make room for more of the sweet options. In the end, a choice had to be made, and this is what we went for. No regrets.
Saffron ice cream, white chocolate mousse, arbequina olive oil (£13) - an unmissable order
Churros with a dulce de leche dip (£11) - they warn you there could be a ten-minute wait for these. We weren't going to order them until we saw them go past us to another diner and food FOMO took over. It turned out to be a very good decision.
What about the drinks list?
Legado gets in on the tiny cocktails trend with the option of 3-sip-serves, one of which is a non-alcoholic serving. These come in a selection of different ceramic cups, much as you might get with sake glassware.
We tried both the melon and grape with tequila and the rhubarb with bonanto (both £6), with the rhubarb being our favourite.
As for the wine list there's plenty to enjoy by the glass (the Txakoli at £9 was particularly good) and more than 150 bottles on the exclusively Spanish list. Bottles start at £40, but there's much more choice when you get to the £50 mark. We were here for lunch so didn't go hard, but we would fancy going back to hit up the extensive sherry selection.
Overall thoughts
We've been enjoying Nieves' food ever since her early days at Barrafina, so it wasn't that great a leap of imagination to expect the food here at Legado to be good. But honestly, we were blown away by our lunch. From the space itself, to the buzz of the dining room, the menu that'll repay multiple visits and the dishes that deliver on every level, this is one of the openings of the year.
More about Legado
Where is it? 1 Montacute Yards, 185-186 Shoreditch High Street, E1 6HU
How to book: Book online
Find out more: Visit their website or follow them on Instagram @legado_ldn.
Hot Dinners dined as guests of Legado. Prices correct at time of publication.
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