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Please note, Ceviche Old Street has now closed, but the Soho original is still open. Time Out Food editors, January 2020.
Ceviche numero uno has been a huge success in Soho, and numero dos seems headed the same way. It has the same winning formula of great drinks, great food and smooth, sunny service. Add a primo location (two minutes from Silicon Roundabout - Old Street tube) and it’s no wonder the customers have been packed in like marinated sardines.
The new venue occupies the ground floor of the former Alexandra Trust Dining Rooms, built in 1898 to feed the poor of the area. Original features have been retained, including the wall tiles.
The cocktail list is dominated by the Peruvian spirit pisco. In addition to the classic pisco sour, they make a number of original drinks and a quartet of ‘Impostors’: pisco-based versions of classic drinks including negronis. The non-alcoholic cocktails are great. There’s little danger of drinking anything boring.
Even if you’re just here for a drink, do eat something: both snacks and small plates are unbelievably good. If you get only one thing, make it tequeños de ají de gallina, deep-fried pastry parcels filled with creamy chicken (£4.50).
The catch is that it’s easy to spend lots of time here – and therefore lots of dosh. When we ambled in on a Sunday afternoon, several tables had finished eating and were clearly well into the cocktail phase. An hour later, they were still there.