Anyone who eats out regularly will know that after a while all meals begin to merge into one. It takes something truly astonishing to be memorable. The suckling pig cooked by Nieves Barragán at Sabor is one of those dishes. Your reviewer still dreams of it regularly. It was therefore with excitement that he visited the chef’s second restaurant. However, if Legado is intended as Barragán’s ‘legacy’ (the word translated from Spanish), then it is a disappointing one.
As discussed elsewhere, the Sethi siblings (or JKS) have transformed London’s dining scene. Most of their restaurants (but by no means all – see, for example, a July 2024 review of Gymkhana) have been successes. They have a certain formula, comprising slick design, top chefs and a vibe that seems inherently part of the zeitgeist. Not content with having taken over much of the Indian sub-continent with their venues, Spain has now been added to the JKS empire. Less charitably, in Legado, the charm of Sabor has become institutionalised.
Sure, it is a super-cool venue, located in trendy Shoreditch, lit intelligently and combining both bar and restaurant. The kitchen is open, there’s countertop dining and absolutely no shortage of opportunities for people watching (and Instagramming). Old and sceptical as your reviewer and his dining comrade may be, we didn’t feel the love. The atmosphere felt manufactured rather than authentic.
Poor service never helps. Our bartender resolutely refused to catch our eye in attempting to order a second round of drinks, a member from the front desk tried insisting we sat down to dine earlier than our scheduled time – presumably in an attempt to turn the table more quickly – and the sommelier brought out the wrong bottle of wine. A generous interpretation might be that the venue is experiencing teething problems. A more realistic view is that with Legado just didn’t care enough. There will always be new customers queuing up to tick the on-trend box.
The wines did help lift the evening and plaudits to the venue for offering a creative list. Spain is making some of the most exciting wine in the world currently and it was a delight to see new wave producers such as Dani Landi (Commando G) and Dominik Huber (Terroir al Limit) featuring – and without egregious mark-ups. Unfortunately, this was probably the high point of the evening.
We had hoped that the food would similarly delight but found ourselves generally underwhelmed. Admittedly, we passed on the whole pig in order to experiment more broadly across the menu. For Nieves, Legado represents her journey across Spain taking in the varied regions and important people that have influenced her life and informed her culinary style. The broad angle is still whole animal butchery – think lots of offal – but there are many fish and vegetable options thrown in too. The humble artichoke – served grilled here with an almond sauce – was arguably Legado’s best dish. Morcilla (black pudding) was tasty but insubstantial, lamb’s kidneys rather fatty and Iberian pork ribs just badly cooked. My dining comrade maintained – and I would be inclined to believe him – that he could prepare ribs better. Orzo and sweetbreads didn’t quite gel, leaving a strange aftertaste. By now, readers get the idea.
A wise businessperson once counselled abolishing the number 7. In a world where Legado could only be scored either 6 or 8 out of 10, then it would definitely merit the lower number. The venue was barely better than average, and yet pricier than most. Maybe had we had the suckling pig, then our view would be different, but equally, it has always been hard to put lipstick on a pig.