Discovering a new local restaurant is a joyful experience, especially when it happens to serve some of the best Portuguese food in London and has Simon Mullins, co-founder of the Salt Yard group of restaurants his Portuguese-born wife Isabel Almeida da Silva at the helm. Volta do Mar occupies a prime position on bougie Draycott Avenue: slap bang opposite KX (one of London’s most exclusive – and expensive –gyms) and a few doors down from neighborhood grande dame, Daphne’s. It relocated here last year from its previous premises in Theatreland, and Covent Garden’s loss is very much Chelsea’s gain.
With a nod to the navigational skills of the Portuguese, Volta do Mar (which translates as ‘around the sea’) is named after a 15th-century technique perfected by Portuguese navigators during the Age of Discovery which made use of wind patterns at sea. It’s an apt name: this is a spot that eschews the rustic staples of bacalhau and caldo verde, instead riding Portugal’s historic trade winds across a menu dotted with pan-African, Brazilian, and south Indian notes. The restaurant menu truly is a testament to the crucible of influences within Portuguese cuisine. As Volta do Mar declares in its mission statement on its website, they are ‘celebrating the diversity of Portuguese cuisine and its relationship with South America, Africa & Asia.’ The result is a menu which has everything from chickpeas and aubergine Goan curry to Iberico pork bafassa.
Mullins is a real wine buff, and proudly shows me and my friend J the extensive wine menu, which has won multiple awards, including World of Fine Wine Magazine Annual Awards ‘World’s Best Wine Lists’, ‘Best Micro List Europe’ (Under 100 wines), and is currently in the final for ‘Best Microlist Global’, the award ceremony for which is to be held on September 16th.
The meal started for me with mackerel and shimeji mushrooms, which was a delicious, rich umami dish. I followed this up with sweet potato with black beans, which was fantastic. For pudding I had grilled peach, perfectly counterbalanced by a generous dollop of luscious, creamy vanilla cream.
Meanwhile, opposite, J pronounced her red, yellow and candy beetroot salad with goats cheese and hazelnuts, Brazilian fish and tiger prawn stew 'very delicious indeed’.
The food here tastes as if it is from the finest Pousada, from a Porto wine house or a fresh fish bar in the Algarve. I’m impressed and will certainly be back for more, not least because it’s a quirky, comforting kind of place with a great wine list and competitive pricing, especially for Chelsea, and best of all, it's just round the corner.
100 Draycott Avenue, Chelsea London SW3 3AD
