Sarap Bistro

You’re likely to spot the biggest issue with Sarap the minute you’re in your seat: narrowing down the menu. Everything (at least everything we recognise) sounds delicious. Looking over at the one companion we brought we suddenly wish we had more friends so that we could order one of everything without any shame.

Happily, on the unfamiliar ingredient front, things are explained in plain English by the friendly, trendy-looking team. Armed with helpful recommendations we find ourselves tucking into salty, rice flour coated chicken skin crisps that give a satisfying shatter and come with a drinkable vinegar-heavy sweet chilli dipping sauce. They’re perfect with the local lager on offer. Other snacks include a beef fat scallop with XO sauce and a plate of sharp pickles which are perfect for cutting through the rich flavours found throughout the rest of the menu.

Pork forms the backbone (if you’ll pardon the pun) of many of The Philippine’s favourite foods. Here it’s found presented as a double fried deboned pig trotter stuffed with glutinous rice and all kinds of other good things. You’ve probably already seen it on Instagram, but we’re pleased to report it offers both style and substance – a fact compounded by the pile of knuckles left in our wake.

Lots of other things come unrecognisable to their common namesakes. A beef tartare, for instance is near cured with the salt from soy and calamansi and topped with little pickled onions. It’s melt-in-the-mouth, addictive, and the perfect thing to scoop up with the accompanying rice crackers. Elsewhere, cured trout is lifted with citrus and little bursts of salty roe plus an unusual base of mellow coconut milk.

The interiors are nothing to write home about (the team is at the mercy of the 10 Heddon Street incubator space they're currently using) but with plates this vibrant they don’t need to be. You’re here for the food not to soak up the sight of mock foliage. And in that vein – while the greenery might fake, the love seems genuine. The menu’s a riot of colour, flavours and textures of highly seasoned, well-balanced plates that would - we assume - make any Filipino proud.

Sarap Filipino Bistro is a city centre restaurant serving a menu of modern Filipino cuisine, with a focus on the sour, salty and sweet flavours so famously associated with the cuisine. Sarap Filipino Bistro follows a philosophy of serving ‘authentic flavours delivered proudly inauthentically.’ The interior is modern and inviting with a large bar area and both indoor and outdoor seating. The outdoor seating is heated and can be enjoyed throughout the year. 

If you’re visiting Sarap Filipino Bistro for dinner you will find a menu of both small and large plates. Smaller dishes include ensaladang talong, which is a smoked aubergine served with winter tomatoes and a salted duck egg, and market fish kinilaw which is a coconut vinegar cured fish, served with calamansi gel and cucumber.

Larger plates include a roasted celeriac kare kare served with peanut and achuete sauce and truffle, and an aged rump steak served with grilled leek, pickled shallots and yeasted onion. You can also order a number of side dishes such as jasmine rice, hispi cabbage and kale laing. 

If you’re looking for desserts perhaps you’ll go for the banana leaf steamed sweet coconut rice served with coconut caramel, and a burnt cassava cheesecake served with cream cheese, coconut milk and macapuno cream.

If you’re visiting with a large group of six to eight people you can also order the sarap lechon, which is a whole suckling pig for the table, stuffed with lemongrass and truffled adobo pork rice. This dish must be pre-ordered ahead of your visit to Sarap Filipino Bistro.

Sarap is located in Soho just off Savile Row. You are conveniently located close to many shops, bars and cafes plus visitor attractions. Just a short walk from Piccadilly Circus underground stop, you can reach Carnaby Street and Leicester Square, as well as being within reach of Liberty London, The Royal Academy of Arts and The National Gallery.