Worth the detour
While Upper Street was busily turning itself into restaurant gulch, nearby Essex Road was glumly dragging its feet. It's as if Upper Street has embraced the cafe society while all that was left to Essex Road were the greasy spoons.
Sabor is a new, light, modernist restaurant with food that is 'inspired by the flavours of countries across Latin America including Colombia, Brazil, Peru and Argentina'. Just the sort of place that might do well on Upper Street, but you'll find it on Essex Road, where Esnayder Cuartas has taken over a narrow room that was formerly the Purple Turtle.
At some point during the ordeal that is setting up a restaurant, Cuartas struck lucky and hired a chef called Laurent Perroud, and if you think that Perroud is not a very South American name you would be right. We are talking French flair here and a good deal of it. The menu may read South American but flavours are pin-sharp, and dishes are both light and elegant.
Among the starters at Sabor you'll find empanadas (small half-moon-shaped pasties) that are light and crisp, with a savoury lamb filling and a hint of fresh mint. Then there's a 'Peruvian causa'. This dish is a stern test of the menu writer's skill - at Sabor it is billed as a 'terrine of three kinds of potatoes and olives'. Imagine that you had layers of three kinds of mashed potato: standard, orange sweet potato and a third that defies identification, add chopped olives and then the masterstroke which is an anchovy salsa, a splendid belt of flavour that makes all the elements pull together.
There are two ceviches listed, monkfish or mushroom. The monkfish dish is stunning: the fish has been 'cooked' thoroughly by the high acidity of the juice it has been steeped in, and the flavours of the accompanying salad - grapefruit, blood orange and chilli with lots of fresh coriander - sing out.
Main courses are wellpresented and well-crafted: tiny, pink lamb chops sit on a delicious pile of orangeflavoured quinoa and there's a relish made from papaya, rosemary and garlic. Or how about red snapper cooked in a banana leaf and served with a salad made with palm hearts? The rib-eye steak comes with chimichurri and grilled plantains. The steak is accurately cooked, the plantains are sweet/sharp, and the chimichurri is a revelation - a thick and chunky sauce made from parsley and garlic bound together with oil.
The wine list majors in South America with the occasional digression to Spain. There are bargains, such as the excellent Barbera Los Primos, weighing in at a modest £16. Puds are sound: good ice creams, good br°leé. Service is gentle. Sabor has an original menu and a talented chef - it's worth making the detour from Upper Street.
Sabor
Essex Road, London, N1 8LX
