The Sea, The Sea Hackney

Creative seafood tasting counter dining style

Langoustine and spiny lobster cake

Counter dining has somewhat become a hot trend in London lately, with many new counter dining concepts popping up, and mostly toward the high-end level, such as Behind and Evelyns Table. The Sea, The Sea is the latest joining the counter dining fun, with an ex Viajante chef, the talented Leo Carreira running the show. The 12 seat restaurant in Hackney is all about seafood as you could pick that out from the name. The restaurant even has its own seafood tanks to store live seafood and a drying room for fish aging. It offers a 10-course tasting menu, serving creative seafood dishes with a strong influence from Japan.

Raw scallop

Crab and corn wrap

Black garlic and razor clams

Mackerel and pine nuts salad

Squid and daikon soup

With the tasting menu format, there is always a risk you might find some dishes that you enjoy and some not so much. Given I went at its launch period, I did find a dish rather average in the turnip and caviar, it lacked any flavours and the addition of caviar just didn't do much to the dish for me. The razor clams with black garlic were much better, the bold flavour of the black garlic wrap enhanced the sweetness of the clam wonderfully. Clam and garlic is a classic combination but Leo has progressed it in such a clever way. The best dish easily was the aged turbot, cooked on an open fire with a really complex barrel-aged vinegar that really uplifted the umami flavour of the fish. The turbot was well seasoned and had a mixture of interesting sweet and sour taste, it was really outstanding.

Kabu and caviar

Leo on turbot duty

Dry-aged turbot and vinegar

Custard, fennel ice cream and caviar

Spinach and lemon macaroon

The Sea, The Sea's kitchen counter dining experience was indeed a special and unusual experience, there were plenty of new elements and cooking ideas that I have yet encounter anywhere else in London, and credit to Leo and his team to come up with such an ambitious and creative concept. I can see this counter dining restaurant going places given the quality of the seafood they got are some of the very best you can find in the UK and I am sure it can only get better when the team gains more experience. The Sea, The Sea is a likely contender to land a Michelin star come next year for sure.

Food 4/5

What I paid: £150 with wine

Average cost without drinks and services:
£150 (new price)

337 Acton Mews, London E8 4EA

https://www.theseathesea.net/