Inside the Neo-Industrial Dining Room of Bermondsey’s New Modern Portuguese Restaurant

It was tipped as one of the year’s most anticipated new restaurant openings. Londrino opened in Bermondsey on Friday last week, with two separate dining spaces: an upscale 70-seater a la carte restaurant open for lunch and dinner, plus a more informal no-reservations, 30-seater all-day wine bar for smaller plates and snacks.

“There will be a nod to Portugal on our menus, but I don’t want the creative process to end there. Both the restaurant and wine bar menus will evolve each week and will reflect the many influences of our culinary experiences,” Leandro Carreira has repeatedly stressed.

The bar menu will include: Grilled quail with toffee mayo and pão doce (sweet bread) with lemon and ibérico ham, as well as a selection of Portuguese cheeses and cured meats. The restaurant's full wine list will be available in this area, with a continually alternating selection of wines by the glass.

Londrino

The main restaurant menu is “influenced by the flavours of Portugal,” with an emphasis on the sea. Produce is being sourced by day (fishing) boats and British farmers, while some of the more “unique ingredients” will be imported directly from Portugal.

Official

Official

The project is a collaboration between Carreira and Loh Peng, the restaurateur and hotelier who owns Unlisted Collection. Cameron Dewar, who worked with the chef both at Viajante and L.C., is in place as manager-sommelier, having built relationships with small, craft producers from across Portugal to build a wine list focused on the Iberian Peninsula, but with a place too for natural and classic varieties from across Europe.

Yousef Eldin

Below is Londrino’s opening menu:

Small

• Sourdough with home-cultured butter
• Cured sea trout, wild horseradish (£7.50)
• Clams bulhão pato, coriander (£9)
  
  Veg and seafood
• Wild mushrooms, roasted yogurt (£13)
• Octopus, red pepper miso (£16)
• Fermented potato, egg yolk, mustard “piso” (£7)
• Savoy cabbage smoked seaweed butter, mackerel (£14.50)
• Aubergine, potato, black garlic rice (£7)
  
  Meat
• Bisaro secretos, dry buttermilk and salsify (£19)
• Pig tail, Pimentao and coriander (£15)
• Mallard, almonds and garlic, mushrooms (£36)
  
  Sweet
• Grilled soaked brioche, sour caramel and hazelnuts (£8)
• Requeijão with lemon curd, malt and vanilla waffle (£6)
• Cheese (£14)
• Aged fruit / apple and mustard seeds, fermented chutneys
• Ice creams: caraway; caramel and vanilla; whey and smoked honey (£3.50)

Londrino [Official Photo]

Carreira moved from Portugal to northern Spain and worked with Andoni Luis Aduriz’s at Mugaritz for three years, before travelling to London to work at Nuno Mendes’ then Hackney restaurant, Viajante as head chef. He subsequently spent time at Koya with Junya Yamasaki and Shuko Oda and with James Lowe at Lyle's. Last year, he ran a pop-up in London Fields: L.C. at Climpson’s Arch.

Official

Official