You might assume Shoreditch is at peak saturation. Small plates, big ideas, mood board interiors - surely, we’ve seen it all. And yet, sidling into a cavernous former warehouse is Legado, Nieves Barragán-Mohacho’s new Iberian outpost.
Billed as a ‘legacy’ restaurant, it’s a celebration of breadth and variety. Where British tapas joints have reduced Spain’s culinary vocabulary to limp croquetas and underseasoned tortillas, Legado paints the big picture: rural obscurities, whole animal butchery, the bits of Spain typically left behind at passport control.
Inside, it’s handsome but unshowy: terracotta tiling, turquoise upholstery, and a large open kitchen, all set against the unmistakable buzz of gratified diners. The Taberna section up front does the tapas thing for those who want it, but the heart of the operation is the dining room proper, where the menu is a vast, slightly alarming 58 dishes long, all brimming with promise.
Things kick off neatly with three-sip serves, ‘tini’-style tipples served in bespoke ceramics, each representing different regions of Spain. One is a sharp rhubarb Bonanto infusion, the other a robust and savoury, tomato-gin number. Already pining for dry Andalusian sunshine, we opt for gambas cristal, tiny shrimp fried to a sweet glassy crunch, crowned with a lacy fried egg made for ritual yolk-popping.
Then there’s arroz campero, slick, chubby mushroom-heavy grains neatly laid with chargrilled Extramaduran lagarto Ibérico that releases streams of fatty flavour. It has all the hallmarks of Nieves’ cooking: unbridled intensity, careful sourcing, uncomplicated execution with a contemporary edge.
The same is true of a skate wing tortilla, predictably excellent; its runny centre jostling with thumps of herby, salty, mojo verde. Milk-fed lamb kidneys, too, are a triumph - cooked slow and gentle, butterflied and served simply with a few sharply-dressed lettuce leaves.
Elsewhere, there’s a piglet head, halved, fried and dusted in jamón powder. Peel back any anxieties and you’re in for crisp, crunchy ears, gelatinous cheek meat, and strips of sweetness concealed within the jaw.
Eyeing the steady stream of suckling pigs heaved from the hand-built Segovian oven, we’re set on returning. Maybe for Taberna snacks and an Estrella 1906 Reserva (followed by a few too many sherries), certainly to try the remaining 50-something dishes. For now, we’ll content ourselves rejoicing in the memory of it. If legacy is what Nieves Barragán-Mohacho is after, Legado is more than worthy of the name. No notes.