It's woody minimalist vibes at Sabor - it feels modern, youthful and hip. 

​

Up a flight of stairs, you are greeted by the restaurant name emblazoned on the wall before turning right into the restaurant. You're immediately struck by the brilliant light that floods in through the floor to ceiling glass sliding doors which we'll come to in a mo. 

​

It's really exciting to step into a Lagos restaurant whose space has been properly thought out. We dug the brass colour palette from the chairs to the maze like light fixture. Another design feature we were into was the brushed marble bar unit; its light colour perfectly complementing the elegant brass bar stools.

​

Finishing is generally the achilles heel of a lot of Lagos establishments. Not here. They clearly paid lots of attention to detail. This extends to the bathroom which is one of the finest in Lagos. Yes, that shit matters. Beyond, handwash and moisturiser, they even dashed us fragrance diffuser. Oshe!
 

Slide open the doors to head out to the rooftop bar which comprises a couple of sofa chairs on the outer edge along with two benches in the middle. Great for chilled drinks and nibbles or for a less formal dining environment with your crew.

​

Looks aside, the service was beyond friendly but in a non irritating way, just truly genuinely lovely. As with most Nigerian restaurants they wouldn't be able to recommend you a dish, this can only come via the chef or the owner - this is a big problem in the Lagos dining scene and Sabor is not exempt from it.

 

The place is spotless, they are pretty anal with clearing up and keeping the place neat, we guess that's coming from the madam at the top. It's a little extra but we'd rather this, than lax cleanliness. 

​

Sabor is by the same folks behind HSE Gourmet in Lekki. The menu is quite concise by Lagos standards. There's quite the range and you could crudely describe it as comfort food with influences from America, Asia, Europe with a slither of Naija.

 

We're ashamed to say we ordered the most pedestrian dishes on the menu because we were not about that adventurous life that day, nor were we mega hungry. So, a side of jollof (₦1,400), chicken lollipops (₦3,000) and calamari (₦3,300) was the order of the day.

 

All dishes pretty much delivered. The calamari could have been crispier but the chilli mayo and sesame and jalapeno vinaigrette made up for it (though the portion you get for the price is a bit of a joke); the chicken lollipops were covered in a thick homemade bbq glaze - at first taste it was heavenly but then our tongue got a little weary of it - the best part of it was how effortlessly it slid of the bone. The star though was the J rice, just the right amount of heat with a touch of smokiness. 

 

So, yes, a revisit is mandatory to get a more rounded view of the food on offer but our first impressions were positive and we'd recommend it on that basis.

​

Cocktail wise, the gin fizz with grapefruit was wayyyy too sweet for us - completely missing any tartness the grapefruit should have offered, we think they went overboard with the syrup. We wouldn't order that again but keen to give some of the others a go.

​

Mains start art ₦5.7k, so for a meal including an alcoholic bevvy at Sabor, you're looking at around the ₦12k mark. 

​

In sum, Sabor works well for upscale casual gatherings for those that want to dine in a well designed space.

​

We are napkin, menu and toilet fascists. We also don't want to spend 2hrs waiting for our food

​

Napkins: decent paper napkins

​

Menus: not at all bad but a reprint of the paper menus wouldn't hurt

​

Toilet: dreamy. Properly kitted out. Sleek design. Soft bog roll. Smells good. Tick, tick, tick

​