In the heart of theatreland, just down from Piccadilly Circus.

Sael is Jason’s tribute to British culture and heritage, honouring the influence that Britian has had around the world and the farmers, growers and fisherman that play a part in that. The super seasonal menu is a celebration of the very best in British produce with a few global influences thrown in to keep everything feeling really fresh and modern.

The vibe is very much London in its Cool Britannia era (minus the Spice Girls!) A big brasserie style space with a mixture of curved banquette style and table seating, Sael manages to balance the buzz and energy of a destination restaurant with the relaxed atmosphere of somewhere much more intimate. The upstairs cocktail bar, Apples & Pears, offers some very innovative cocktails in an equally cool setting.

The menu follows the new norm of snacks, small and mid plates, with a ‘from the embers’ section focussing on larger cuts of meat, poultry and fish cooked on the wood fire. We started with the most amazing buttery laminated brioche with roasted onion butter (every day please) and tempura rock oysters. I’m not a fan of a raw oyster (in fact they are a hard no), but these little fried morsels in the lightest of batters and topped with vinegary batter scraps were a joy.

From the snacks section we also had the Lamb ‘doner’ kebab flatbread, a puffy chargrilled bread soaked with juicy lamb and its juices and a vibrant herb oil. From the smaller plates, we had the Mount Vesuvius tomato, a huge flavour packed tomato covered in thin slices of Charentais melon and lardo and dressed in a sherry vinegar, as well as the wood fire Port roasted figs with stracciatella (a fresh curd cheese) and an innovative cobnut hummus, which was like autumn on a plate.

From the larger plates, we had the cod cheek and parsley casserole with smoked bacon and the Gochujang grilled cuttlefish with soy braised pork cheek dressing, accompanied by the salt and vinegar Pierre Koffman chips, because how can you possibly judge any establishment if you haven’t had their chips?? (These were a solid 10/10 as the name would suggest). If I had had any room left, I would love to have snuck in the 100-layer Hereford snail and ox-cheek lasagne, or the Cornish lobster with coral butter but I will have to leave those for a repeat visit.

This is a great addition to a part of London that has thus far been pretty underserviced for decent restaurants. The menu is innovative, the prices approachable for this level of cooking and the atmosphere buzzy and inviting.

I mean I’ll never tire of a puffy flatbread drenched in lamb fat, but the innovative cocktail menu upstairs was also a big hit. I had the Fig & Mushroom cocktail which blended bourbon, fig leaf, vermouth and shiitake mushroom, and my chum the Sael Michelada, which was a unique blend of vermouth, miso, rosehip, hot sauce and lager which was absolutely delicious, despite those five ingredients being less than natural bedfellows!