JOIA

London is no stranger to a restaurant with a good view, but few rival JOIA. Perched high on the 15th floor of Battersea’s art’otel, this Portuguese restaurant ticks all the boxes when it comes to London dining, with its Instagrammable interiors, sprawling vistas, and a food menu to match.

The experience here begins long before you’ve taken your seat. The slick, art-deco lobby sets the tone, anticipation building as you whizz up fifteen floors to the main restaurant and follow dusty pink corridors into the main dining room. Inside, everything is pure elegance: a pastel colour palette, natural wood floors, and potted greenery. But the real spectacle lies beyond the glass: floor-to-ceiling windows offering unrivalled views of the Power Station’s chimneys, with the city sprawling beyond. Tables by the window are the hot ticket, where guests sip cocktails and share plates against one of London’s most dramatic backdrops.

Where many sky-high venues let the view do the heavy lifting, JOIA doesn’t rest on its aesthetics. The menu, overseen by Michelin-starred Portuguese chef Henrique Sá Pessoa is built for sharing, delivering riffs on classic flavours from his home country.

We start with croquetas, their crisp shells giving way to a buttermilk-smooth filling, flecked with rich chunks of Iberico ham and topped with a thin slice of aged pork jelly. Elsewhere, a Spanish tortilla delivers gooey-centred perfection, whilst a seabass ceviche is almost too pretty to eat: a ring of neatly diced fish, swimming in a zesty salsa verde and topped with mango chutney and delicate green tuilles.

Our next wave of sharers brings an octopus salad, bright with smoky paprika, roasted peppers and tomato. It’s fresh, if a little restrained in its seasoning. More memorable is the bacalhau à Brás, a Portuguese comfort classic reimagined for London crowds. Strands of salted cod are tossed through matchstick potatoes, richened with an egg yolk, black olives and plenty of parsley. Mixed tableside with a theatrical flourish, it’s hearty, carby, and utterly satisfying. Sides like patatas bravas keep things familiar but no less enjoyable, crisp and golden under hefty dollops of aioli.

With its bold, comforting dishes, polished service and magnificent city views, JOIA is much more than another restaurant with a photogenic backdrop. Come for the views, stay for the food – both are worth the visit.

JOIA is the signature restaurant at art'otel London Battersea, run by two Michelin-starred Portuguese chef Henrique Sa Pessoa. 

Perched on the 15th floor of art’otel London Battersea, with floor-to-ceiling windowed bar Perola on the level below, JOIA boasts incomparable views of the South London skyline. It only gets better from here, because JOIA also boasts a sprawling rooftop, complete with open air pool, right beside Battersea’s Grade II listed power station.

This isn’t Sa Pessoa’s first appearance on the London culinary scene. After training at the Cordon Bleu Institute, he began working in the kitchen of the Sheraton Grand London Park Lane hotel. Now he’s one of the most highly acclaimed chefs in Portugal, owning Lisbon-based two-Michelin-starred Alma and Tapisco, as well as being the executive chef at sister art’otel restaurant ARCA in Amsterdam.

The menu is true to the robust, authentic flavours of Sa Pessoa’s native Portugal, featuring elegant, elevated versions of many classic Portuguese dishes, with an emphasis on seafood, pork and rice. The menu includes snacks such as Iberico ham croquetas, salt cod tortilla and hand dived scallops with black alioli sabayon. For main courses there is a choice of larger plates like wild mushroom and black truffle rice and Madeira-braised pork cheeks, but JOIA also offers whole Carabineros prawns, catch of the day fish and aged steaks from the josper grill.

Don’t forget to check out Perola whilst you’re here, as the glass walls make it one of the most stunning cocktail lounges London has to offer. It’s the ideal spot to peruse an extensive list of Portuguese and Spanish wines and vermouths while taking in the striking city views.