SUSHI SAMBA
London, UK
With a view competing with the best in London, SushiSamba has received a lot of attention this past year with their first European location. Placed on the 38th and 39th floor of the Heron Tower, it boasts amazing views of the city. The cuisine is a mixture of Japanese, Brazilian and Peruvian. The first impression is formed in the lift ride on the way up, which is pretty cool. The interior is a bit all over the place. The main dining room with the hanging lights is quite striking, but the orange tree outside is a tacky disaster. With such a great location, it’s a shame that the interior doesn’t measure up. Nonetheless, it is definitely not a boring place. The best view I thought was from the ladies bathroom, where it is quite surreal to see the Gherkin and Tower 42 from such a perspective while washing your hands.
When it comes to the actual food and drink on offer, I started off with cocktails. They serve a range of classic cocktails with interesting twists, such as lighting a star anise on fire before stirring it into the Tonka Bean Old Fashioned. The Chucumber with Hendrick’s gin and Pablo Piscobar with citrusy yuzu are both amazing, and highly addictive. I sampled some of the small dishes, starting with a mix of vegetable tempura. The asparagus and mushroom ones were great, but as with most tempura, needed a good soaking in soy sauce to have enough flavour. The glazed pork belly was good and really filling for their small size. I love padrón peppers and always order them at tapas places, as they can never go completely wrong. At SushiSamba they are also tasty, but the Spanish do them better. The fish tacos were nicely presented in very crispy taco shells, but lacked a bit of flavour. In general, I enjoyed all of the food, but it is a little over priced. The incredible view comes first at SushiSamba, and the food is secondary.
110 Bishopsgate, London, EC2N 4AY
