OPENS APRIL 2020
Casual Portuguese restaurant Claro is found on Bateman Street in Soho and is the brainchild of chefs and restaurateurs Leandro Carreira and Alex Hunter. The pair have quite the culinary CV between them – Carreira previously oversaw now-closed Londrino in Bermondsey, while Hunter co-founded seafood shack Bonnie Gull, as well as Chelsea’s The Sea, The Sea.
At Claro, which is on the former site of Bonnie Gull Soho, you can expect to find an intimate dining room which can accommodate around 25 diners at one time. Much of the space is made up of counter dining, with guests able to watch the chefs prepare their dishes right in front of their eyes thanks to an open kitchen.
When it comes to the food, Claro serves a menu of classic Portuguese plates, which have been inspired by the local tabernas of Carreira’s childhood. Dishes you might come across include the likes of mackerel served with smoked seaweed butter, Atlantic prawns with lardo and egg cake, or rare-breed pork with almonds and chilli, served alongside cabbage with a black garlic biscuit.
Claro is open for lunch too, when it serves quick-fix sandwiches which are also available to take away should you be in a rush. The sandwich menu changes regularly, but you can expect fillings such as crab inside a cinnamon bun or prego (thinly sliced steak) served on brown butter brioche.
Carreira pays homage to his heritage with Claro’s drinks list too, which encompasses a range of Portuguese beers on tap, as well as a constantly evolving selection of wines from his native country, which are mostly organic.
This is the second time Carreira and Hunter have collaborated on a restaurant project, as the chef currently serves as executive chef at The Sea, The Sea on Chelsea’s Pavilion Road, a seafood-focused restaurant and wine bar co-founded by Hunter.