Sabor Restaurant, Islington, London

YUM!

Great food, fair price. booking advised as i got turned away last week due to no reservation. the £35 white wine (most expensive on menu is to die for)

thanks

Best Ceviche in London.

The cod dish is to die for and they should serve it in large portions ans this starter is so god dam good.

Best latin diner for Ceviche outside of peru

“She’ll bite you… If I tell her.” being slightly intimidated by a toothless man wielding a lhasa apso wasn’t how I’d planned to spend my Saturday evening, and I was lucky at this point that we shared a common language, ‘slightly pissed’, enabling me to smile and gurn my way out of trouble. Granted, he was slightly more fluent than I, elevated only slightly from the level of street drinker by dint of the pub bench he sat at. Sat outside the New Rose, next door to Sabor and a glimpse of the other Islington. Only a mile from but a million miles removed from the gentrified surroundings of Islington Green and Upper Street.

Essex Road has sidestepped most of the ill effects of recent gentrification, with the odd outriding bar or restaurant gradually spreading the money down from Upper Street and Islington Green. As you head further down, these become fewer and further between, replaced instead with a scattering of old style cafes, blacked out pub windows, bottle shops and the more colourful side of street life. I like it, but then I live in Camberwell.

We weren’t here for the salty locale though, we were here on recommendation, punctuating an evening’s drinking with a bite to eat at the relatively upmarket ‘Nuevo Latino’ cantina Sabor. It’s a thin, bright space with white walls, primary coloured tables and an eclectic selection of South American objects scattered across the wall, somewhere across between a child’s playgroup and gap year returnee’s bedroom.

The food was well meaningly authentic but fairly scattergun, starting with a warm but too dry cornbread. I went for a seemingly Peruvian style of potato known as Papas Rellenas, essentially a thickened mash with a spiced minced meat filling, served with a tomato ‘foam’ on the side. It wasn’t disastrous, but watching others plough into hot flakey empanadas and surprisingly solid vegetarian quesadillas I did have a little pang. There were some great dishes among the starters in the group, sadly mine wasn’t one of them.

For my main I went for a rib-eye. Well cooked and a great bit of meat to boot. Unfortunately the balsamic glazed plantain that it came with was a little eye-watering for me though. It’s an interesting idea, but the al dente discs of banana’s bigger brother just didn’t take enough of the marinade on, leaving it darkly slick across the plate. It clashed with the over-garlicky chimichurri like two rival gangs on my palate.The lettuce accompanying was just pointless. A classic piece of menu Tourettes. I regretted my choice watching across the tiny toy tables as one of the group ploughed into a Cuban shredded beef brisket and rice dish with a wonderful piquancy to it. There were similar positive murmurs about the red snapper. It certainly smelt good, though the sample I tried got mugged on the way to my tastebuds by that chimichurri.

Desserts followed the theme. My chocolate tres leches was a classic three milk brownie, dense and sticky, a perfect balance of texture, sweet and bitter. Two of the party went for what seemed like a sweetened, poached tomato, served disingenuously with a spoon of highly alcoholic rum and raisin.

It’s a fun, friendly and fairly good value night out. I don’t see myself back here at any point in the near future, but that’s more the area than the restaurant. It’s worth popping in if you’re nearby.

Sabor is simply my favourite South American restaurant in London! The ingredients are top quality, the dishes very creative, the vibe is just great and the selection of Argentinean and Chilean wines perhaps one of the most complete in London. I normally go for the ceviches, followed by Argentinean steaks, and never missed a classic caipirinha or a pisco sour and an Argentinean Malbec. Finally, as Colombian I should also point out that this is not the traditional Latin American restaurant, but a very well thought and vibrant concept.

Recommended to me by a Colombian friend, this restaurant is absolutely fantastic. The food is delicious, and the staff and service top notch. Genuine Latin American cuisine - this is NOT Nando’s/Tex-Mex!

There aren’t many restaurants like Sabor in London - where South American food is all chucked into a large melting pot and spat out the other side and fun, interesting and surprising dishes.

The decor is nice and the staff are welcoming. It is a bit pricey, but then it does look it. The cocktails are very, very good. The restaurant feels lively without being too in your face.

My one peice of advice would be to book through toptable - that way you get to go enjoy the food and a special offer.

If you want to avoid the many chain eateries in the area, head to Sabor for a vibrant South American flavour.

The menu is quite exotic, using South American ingredients and ideas to create original dishes (such as red snapper coated in chilli chocolate) and build on the wide variety of traditional dishes.

Of course, it includes Mexico and you can’t go wrong with a cold margarita!The service is really good, giving the whole place an energetic, lively feel.

Sabor is a beautiful little place to eat. It has mainly Colombian influences in the food, with some Argentine and Peruvian. Wine was not very good, and food was extremely tasty, but way off the originals… A good spot to try though, if you’re tired of eating the same old stuff in London Latin American restaurants. The decor is simple but attractive. Well worth a visit… though a bit pricey.

I went to Sabor with great hopes, as I’m a fan of South American cooking, but it turned out this was more a watered down version of the food I was expecting.

As a starter I had the Empanadas Paisas, which just didn’t deliver, the aji for one, was not authentic or spicy so that dissapointed me. The actual empanadas, were very bland and nothing like the empanadas I’ve had in Colombia.

As a mains I had ordered the Aji de Gallina, which again was bland, with the chicken being overcooked. I think I tried someone’s Conejo en Salsa de Chocolate too, which was an attempt at a chocolate mole. Again, not very successful.

I did try some desserts, and I think the Mousse de Maracuya was actually pretty decent.

The service was acceptable, but nothing standout, drinks were average, the wines being more expensive than in other similar restaurants, however the cocktails were rather good. The venue itself is very nicely laid out and some effort has gone into the lighting and decoration so quite a relaxed atmosphere is established.

I suppose Sabor is trying to appeal to as broad a market as possible by offering food which is South American inspired. If I had known this going in perhaps I would not have been so dissapointed. A bit harsh, but maybe Las Iguanas offers more authentic SA fare.

The thing I like about South American cooking is the flavours from the ingredients that are just not found in other parts of the world. Going to Sabor I expected to be immersed in these
flavours, this did not happen and as a result I was dissapointed.

Still, there are many items on the menu that I didn’t try, so perhaps I’d be open to going back there to try something else.

Pros
- inventive menu
- nicely decorated/lit
- nice cocktails

Cons
- not authentic
- food is a bit bland
- pricey

Brunch at this Latin American restaurant is a nice departure from the norm. I checked out Sabor’s menu online and it was akin to love at first sight, even before I made my way to Essex road and tasted the delighted Latin eggs benedict. It more than lived up to my expectations, with the texture of the creamy cornmeal (polenta) base providing an excellent contrast to the mildly salty layer of serrano ham topped with two poached eggs and a chipotle-infused hollandaise sauce. I strongly suggest you ask for the hollandaise on the side as it’s very rich and amazing but could also overwhelm the dish with too much.

I also had the ‘white coffee’ which was soo good and frothy that I thought the waittress may have given me a cappuccino by accident but it was in fact good quality Colombian coffee with steamed milk. Great stuff. They also make brunch cocktails but they’re not on the menu (yet!) so do inquire if that’s your kinda thing.

Beyond brunch they do 2 types of ceviche (shrimp and fish) and have a variety of Peruvian, Colombian and other South American dishes that sound amazing, which means I’ll probably have to go back several times to try everything that I wanna :)

If you go out in Islington and want to get away from the well troden track of Upper Street to find a true taste of Latin America, make sure you go into Sabor, five minutes up Essex Road.

It's the ideal place to meet a group of friends, as the decor (especially colourful and original paper mache animal heads on the wall) and atmosphere is light and comfortable and the staff are very friendly and helpful.

The food is nuevo latino, so mixes alot of influences from South America, Africa and southern Europe to create some unique flavours. Try the Conejo en Salsa de Chocolate-
rabbit cook in a rich and spicy chocolate sauce served with wild rice, corn & quinoa salad. Yum. There's a good mix on the menu, so you can go for either light or heavier tasting options.

Take your appetite and your friends and you won't be dissapointed.