The Sea, The Sea Hackney
Hackney, London
*Chef Leandro Carreira is leaving at the end of March 2024. The restaurant is changing too: following Carreira's departure, it will become a 'chef's table pop-up and residency space'. *
The Hackney sibling of The Sea, The Sea in Chelsea falls somewhere between a Berlin nightclub and The Starship Enterprise. You have pumping electronic beats, exposed ducts, bare brick walls, a ring of light, glass fish-ageing rooms and the polished arc of a 14-seat counter that serves as Portuguese chef Leandro Carreira’s command centre. It’s a unique, immersive showcase for what is primarily a seafood wholesaler with a fishmongers attached. It might be intimidating were it not for the warm welcome and sheer novelty of the experience. Front of house was a team of one when we visited, and the manager put the motley crew of strangers (solo diners, couples, friends) at ease around the counter in no time. A drink always helps: some go for the natural wines so beloved of this locale; others find a more classically made bottle (priced from £36 upwards). Carreira gets things going with a cup of fish-bone broth. What follows is essentially a 10-course omakase or tasting menu, experienced communally. The chef explains his thinking, his methods, his ideas, as we go along. There are some dishes that stun us all into silence: a miniature seaweed taco with exceptional British chutoro tuna; grilled scallops, firm and fat after four-and-a-half hours in a dehydrator, with a flavoursome sauce of their skirts and caramelised lactose; and seven-day, dry-aged monkfish with caviar and a buttery sauce, smokey with eel skin. Other dishes get us talking: raw squid with nutty goma dofu (sesame 'tofu') divides opinion, as does as similarly polarising semifreddo-style palate cleanser of rice koji with kaffir lime. The menu changes daily, with the exception of the brilliant, delicious pão de ló sponge cake with fennel-seed ice cream and caviar, which Carreira is not allowed to take off the menu. As a chef, he could play it safe, keep it simple – he has some of the best seafood in the country at his disposal – but he’s too curious a cook to do so. He wants to push himself and push his customers. With his small team, he’s created a space where it feels comfortable to sit with some new ideas, new ingredients, new people. An invigorating experience.
Dining Information:
Counter seating, Wheelchair access, Family friendly, Credit card required, Pre-payment required
337 Acton Mews, Hackney E8 4EA
020 7824 8090
