RestaurantsLondonHaggerstonE8

Harden's says

A new branch of The Sea, The Sea opened in east London in September 2021; it's an intimate chef's table-style experience, with just 12 seats.

survey result

Summary

£175
£££££
5
Exceptional
4
Very Good
4
Very Good
* Based on a three course dinner, half a bottle of wine, coffee, cover charge, service and VAT.

“Incredible seafood in the most unique of settings” inspires outstanding feedback on chef Leandro Carreira and restaurateur Alex Hunter’s “amazing and inventive” 14-seater chef’s table experience under Haggerston railway arches, where the moodily-lit counter looks onto the gleaming open kitchen. A 12-course tasting menu involving every type of sustainable sea creature is presented at £150 per person. (Very good all-round ratings too for the original branch – a simpler and cheaper seafood bar in the bouji backstreets, off Sloane Street).

Summary

£250
£££££
5
Exceptional
4
Very Good
4
Very Good
* Based on a three course dinner, half a bottle of wine, coffee, cover charge, service and VAT.

“Extraordinary food served with commitment” in a “cutting-edge omakase” format makes the new Haggerston branch of this seafood duo one of the most exciting culinary arrivals of the year. “In a very stylishly decorated railway arch venue”, it is focused on a 12-seat chef’s table overseen by chef Leandro Carreira: “a beautiful sea-like resin counter”, where the “very skilled and friendly chefs are centre stage in front of diners, preparing the food as you watch”. “This is perfect fish cooking with innovation in each course, where you can fully differentiate the taste of each fish”; and with “dishes that are Noma-like in their execution and quality”. (Our meal ran: “sea urchin with almond milk, savoury custard with jus, fabulous churrasco of tuna belly, monkfish with leek, roasted fennel seed ice cream and Portuguese sponge cake and caviar”.) And while the focus is on E8 this year, the original SW3 branch in a quiet mews near Sloane Street still wins favourable mention for “wonderfully fresh fish excellently prepared”.

Summary

£71
  £££
3
Good
3
Good
4
Very Good
* Based on a three course dinner, half a bottle of wine, coffee, cover charge, service and VAT.

“Fishmonger by day and intimate restaurant by night” – this “unique” two-year-old in a quiet mews near Sloane Street is pioneering “innovative techniques such as ageing fish”. The result is a “very interesting tasting menu – expensive but well executed”. Created by the team behind Bonnie Gull in Fitzrovia (RIP), it was joined in summer 2021 by a bigger branch next to Berber & Q in Hackney – a base for their wholesale fish and seafood processing business, with an ‘immersive dining counter’ under chef Leo Carreira. The aim is to create ‘somewhere between art installation, restaurant, laboratory and factory!’

For 33 years we've been curating reviews of the UK's most notable restaurant. In a typical year, diners submit over 50,000 reviews to create the most authoritative restaurant guide in the UK. Each year, the guide is re-written from scratch based on this survey (although for the 2021 edition, reviews are little changed from 2020 as no survey could run for that year).

Have you eaten at The Sea, The Sea Hackney?

Restaurant details

No dress code

Prices

  Cost Availability Courses
Menu1 150.00 Always available 12
Drinks  
Wine per bottle £40.00
Filter Coffee £5.00
Extras  
Service 0.10%

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