First look: South American restaurant to expand into Hackney later this month

One of the first ceviche-focussed concepts in the capital has announced the opening of an eat-in only restaurant on Hackney’s Mare Street on November 17.

Crudo has expanded its menu to include hot dishes, a greater variety of ceviche and a South American focussed cocktail menu. The restaurant’s launch comes ahead of other new openings for the brand, which is planning further sites before the end of the year.

The new Mare Street site will offer a variety of small plates and snacks including Avocado and Beetroot Tartare, Brazilian Pão de Queijo with Guava-Rocoto Dip and Pastel de Choclo, a savoury Peruvian corn cake with feta and fresh pico de gallo sauce..

Ceviche is a mainstay on the menu, typically raw fish in Leche De Tigre, a citrus based marinade that gently cures the fish. Crudo’s menu includes four ceviches, each with their own different Leche De Tigre that is made in house with a 12 hour fish stock and red chilli.

Crudo is known for its house cocktail, the Pisco Sour, but the cocktail menu has taken on a “whole new life” at Mare Street with a list including new Pisco, Mezcal and Tequila. The wine list had also been extended for the new site with a solid selection of organic and sustainable wines on offer.

Founders Maria Yanez and Carlos Socorro created Crudo in 2019, noticing a gap in the market for their “beloved” ceviche. The couple, both from Venezuela, met in Miami, where ceviche is the “go-to quick bite”, available on every street corner.

Once they moved to London, the dish was missing from their lives and all places serving ceviche had a “high price tag”. Enter Crudo, designed to be an affordable and personalisable ceviche concept to introduce Londoners to ceviche.

The Fitzrovia site opened in September 2019, just six months before the pandemic changed the direction of their business. A site in Old Street followed with some dine-in tables to allow people to sit in and enjoy their ceviche, here they claim to have “perfected” the recipes of their two menu staples, Ceviche and Pisco Sours.

The new site in Mare Street represents an evolution of Crudo to a restaurant site and introduces Londoners to a whole host of new South American dishes.

By Matthew Neville – Correspondent, Bdaily