Last Updated on May 28, 2024
A multi-sensory dining experience
Looking for a restaurant to impress a date? A fun place to meet up with your friends for a celebration? Perhaps a pre-Xmas get-together after work? Yopo is just such a venue. Part of the Mandrake Hotel in Fitzrovia, Yopo offers atmosphere with added panache and an interesting menu to boot. Yopo is a tree that grows in South America and the Caribbean, and its beans have psychoactive properties that are used in shamanic rituals. While part of indigenous religious and healing ceremonies that go back centuries, yopo might also be familiar to those tourists who seek out this purging experience as part of their travels in South America. At the restaurant, the only sign of inebriation was the décor which might have been designed under the influence or at least might make you feel you are. Either way, it is OTT in a stylish way and we found the ambience to be conducive to a most relaxing evening.
Yopo is accessed via the entrance of the Mandrake hotel and guests are treated to the striking work of the artists in residence. Take a few minutes to sit in the entrance lobby of the hotel to view the extraordinary artworks and put your head into the Waeska bar where there is an impressive list of DJs who perform. Then have your senses stimulated as you walk into Yopo itself where music and visuals combine to transport visitors to a world away from the city outside. Part jungle, part art gallery, part installation, a recent renovation reveals Yopo filled with exotic plants – some in pots, others painted onto the ceiling – flowers, art, books, sofas and other pieces of furniture sourced around the world. The unique ceiling is painted by Peter-John de Villiers and includes mystical beings, jungle fauna, and enormous butterflies. A life-size sculpture, Showgirl, created by Marco Tullio Siviglia, takes centre stage – imagine an ostrich combined with a snake. A glass wall opens onto the internal courtyard with its two huge palm trees and then onto the glass-walled bar. In the summer, this must be a wonderfully airy space. In the restaurant, I notice that black ‘wax’ stalactites drip from the candelabras that are installed high up on the walls. There are enormous mirrors on bare brick, dusky pink banquettes line the walls and provide comfortable seating at bare wooden tables. The loud music – not deafening, fortunately – and the ambience suggests that this is a venue for a youthful crowd, but I think that anyone with an open mind and curious spirit would be made very welcome. We were warmly greeted by staff who were excellent at making us feel at home, explaining the menu and suggesting how best to navigate the sharing plates and the creative cocktail menu. When I returned from a visit to the loo – I mention this only because it is the most extraordinary place of such a nature I have ever seen – there was a flute of champagne waiting on the table which is the best way to kick off an evening out.
The Yopo menu is divided into ten small plates which our server described as ‘nibbles’, five plates which she informed us were starters, meat and seafood (three options) as mains and four side dishes. We were advised to order 3 – 4 small plates, two plates and two mains. We duly did. Described as South America meets Europe, the menu has that eclectic feel that moves from roasted pumpkin topped with salsa and served on a tostada to a typically Spanish dish like chorizo with salsa roja, and then on to a fusion dish of Iberico pork pressa anticuchos served with aji amarillo (a Peruvian pepper) and mustard. The last of these is a good example of the Yopo cuisine where anticuchos – iconic Peruvian meat skewers often made with beef heart – are replaced with the iconic meat from Spain, Iberico pork.
As nibbles, we chose two Ostra Regal (Conche de Bannow, Ireland) oysters that are served with champagne granita and lime. It is the first time I have eaten an oyster with an icy chaser, which was an unusual culinary experience combining contrast in texture, temperature and taste. I thought the mildly spicy shallot vinaigrette was lovely too.
Roasted Delica pumpkin, salsa macha, and goat’s cheese tostada was another unusual nibble. Here the noble Italian squash was paired with a spicy, nutty salsa that hails from Veracruz in Mexico. Topped with goat’s cheese and served on a gorgeously crisp tostada, it was a most enjoyable bite to eat.
Portland crab, Gala apple, brioche and caviar was very attractive. A small sweet brioche was partly split open and stuffed generously with white crab meat and apple and topped with a spoon of caviar and finished with a single frond of samphire. A lesser kitchen might have added a herb garnish, but the samphire not only added colour and flavour but continued the theme of the sea.
Perhaps my favourite of all these creative nibbles was one which is found all over Spain. Grilled octopus, potato, caper leaf and hot smoked paprika was served warm and was a well-balanced dish with tender slices of octopus and waxy potato, redolent with smoked paprika and strewn with capers and caper leaf. I would happily have had a main-course sized version of this delicious dish.
I would not usually order a cocktail to drink with my meal but, with the server’s encouragement, I perused the cocktail menu and decided to pair this with the food. There is of course an impressive wine list if diners prefer, with many wines available by the glass. A choice of nine cocktails and one mocktail made for fascinating reading and a difficult set of choices. We settled finally on a Mangosteen which was a mix of Patrón silver tequila infused mangosteen and hibiscus, chipotle agave, Jalapeño vinegar, grapefruit soda and chilli. I am not surprised it has been on the menu since Yopo first opened as it is an exciting cocktail to drink with the glass dipped in salt and chilli powder that flavours every tantalizing sip. My companion chose the Iris – Bombay Sapphire vodka infused blueberry and butternut squash, Amaretto cherry Heering and lemon juice.
From the starter selection, we chose scallop, tomatillo and mango which combined a hand-dived scallop with a salsa of tomatillo, shallots, Jalapeño coriander, mango and bronze fennel. The single scallop was thinly sliced, accompanied by a tomatillo salsa which added a mild spiciness. The mango and green salsa added colour and flavour.
Yellowtail, plantain and aji tiradito would be familiar to those who enjoy Nikkei cuisine where sashimi is paired with Peruvian ingredients. I discovered that a tiradito is a Peruvian raw fish dish that is dressed just before serving, unlike ceviche which is marinated. This dish was elegantly served with the fish thinly sliced alongside a pool of spicy sauce and accompanied by rather fabulous plantain crisps. While the sauce threatened to overpower the delicate flavour of the fish, it made for a wonderful dip for the plantain.
Our server asked if we wanted to take a break before the main courses were served which we gladly agreed to, which was a welcome change from restaurants when dishes cascade onto the table in quick succession. After a comfortable pause, we enjoyed roasted Cornish seabass with chipotle butter and a Welsh lamb loin with smoked ricotta and piquillo pepper. Presented in a copper pan, the seabass was served on a bed of coriander rice (the only part of the meal that tasted under-seasoned) which was topped with wedges of grilled avocado. The thick fillet of seabass was cooked over charcoal and was glazed with a lovely roasted pineapple and chipotle butter which combined sweet, spicy and umami flavours and transported the dish from the English coast to the orchards of South America.
The roasted Welsh lamb loin was served pink and sliced into three pieces that were arranged around a central pool of smoked ricotta sauce, aji Amarillo and lemon, dotted with tiny squares of piquillo pepper and pine nuts. I would have enjoyed a sauceboat full of delicious smoked ricotta sauce. It paired beautifully with the sweet, tender lamb. A scatter of radicchio and other bitter leaves added an interesting foil to the rich meat and sauce.
A side dish of grilled aubergine, sesame and soy was excellent. A thick slice of very tender aubergine sat in a pool of soy and was topped with herbs and popped Japanese rice that had been pressed into the tender flesh. As there is no vegetarian main course dish, and the majority of the dishes on the menu contain fish or meat, the aubergine could be ordered along with some of the small plates to create a varied vegetarian meal.
The dessert menu had four options which showcased the skill of Yopo’s pastry chef. Chestnut and clementine goat cheesecake was very attractive with a biscuit disc topped with a lovely chestnut purée and voluptuous folds of cheese filling. The goat cheese flavour was very subtle – no whiff of the farmyard here – and was topped with thin slices of kumquat which cut through the rich cheese.
Equally creative and pretty was island chocolate royal, coffee & Mezcal ice cream. Served on a round, stone plate, a circle of crunchy chocolate biscuit tubes was topped with tiny cubes of coffee jelly and finished off with a quenelle of Mezcal ice cream and powdered coffee. As lovely to look at as to eat.
The philosophy behind all aspects of The Mandrake Hotel is to embrace sensual adventure and its restaurant, Yopo, offers a multi-sensory dining experience encompassing an inventive menu, art and music. With excellent service, creative food and a DJ in the bar should you wish to continue to enjoy your evening out, Yopo offers diners entrance to its mystical and magical environment and a chance to forget about the world outside if only for a few hours.
Yopo
Mandrake Hotel,
20-21 Newman Street,
London W1T 1PG
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