Ceviche Bar Near Me in Soho: Chotto Matte's Nikkei Raw Bar

Chotto Matte keeps its kitchen at 11-13 Frith Street, London W1D 4RB, open until 1:30am Monday to Saturday, which makes it the latest ceviche in central Soho. The Japanese-Peruvian restaurant lists its Chotto Ceviche of sea bass, leche de tigre, chive oil, sweet potato and Peruvian corn at £19 on the raw bar menu. For a ceviche bar near me answer that also works as a night out, this is the one with a sushi counter, a robata grill and DJs under the same roof.

The Chotto Matte brand was created in 2013 by founder and owner Kurt Zdesar, and it has since grown to Manchester, Toronto, San Francisco, Riyadh and Sydney, with Soho as its London home. The name is Japanese for 'wait a moment', a nod to the Japanese half of Nikkei cooking, the cuisine of Peru's Japanese community.

Executive chef Jordan Sclare oversees the menu, combining Japanese technique with Peruvian ingredients and British produce. The design is part of the draw: walls of lava stone and shou sugi ban charred wood, commissioned art walls and a layout that puts an itamae sushi counter and an open robata grill at the centre of the room, so diners can watch the chefs at work.

The raw bar is a short list. The Chotto Ceviche at £19.00 is the dish to order first: sea bass cut into generous pieces, dressed in leche de tigre and finished with chive oil, with sweet potato and corn to balance the citrus. A vegan Lychee Ceviche, using the same tiger's milk base with fruit in place of fish, costs £12.95 and is better than its description suggests if you like sweet and sour.

Two other dishes fill the same role from the Japanese side. The Yellowtail Nikkei Sashimi at £18.95 is sliced thin with cherry tomatoes, jalapeño, coriander and yuzu truffle soy, closer to a tiradito than to sushi. Tuna tataki with mustard miso and spiced honey herb salsa is also £18.95, and truffled tuna tostadas with wasabi mayo and jalapeño are £13.50.

Order the ceviche and the yellowtail together. Eating them side by side shows how differently Peru and Japan handle raw fish, one cured in lime and chilli, the other barely seasoned with soy and citrus, and that contrast is the whole idea behind Nikkei.

Chotto Matte prices its sharing menus per person, and they change through the day. The weekday Express Lunch, 12pm to 5pm Monday to Friday, is an All About Sushi tasting menu at £29.95: miso soup, edamame, a choice of maki, a salad or lychee ceviche, a main such as robata sea bass rice bowl or pollo picante, and churros or mochi.

The Pre-Theatre Tasting Menu runs Monday to Friday from 5pm to 6:30pm at £40 per person, served to share, and includes the Chotto Ceviche alongside spicy tuna crispy sushi, prawn tempura and pollo den miso. Since Frith Street is a few minutes from the Shaftesbury Avenue theatres, this slot is designed for an early dinner before a show.

In the evening, the Nikkei Sharing Menu costs £68 per person and the Deluxe Sharing Menu £85. The Deluxe adds yellowtail sashimi, wild prawn truffles, an acevichado roll with ceviche crema, otoro nigiri, black cod aji miso and a smoked lamb chop. A discretionary 15% service charge is added to every bill, higher than at most London restaurants.

The bar runs until 1am Monday to Saturday and until 11:30pm on Sunday. Its cocktail list, Tokyo to Lima, was created to pair with particular dishes. The Pisco Sour is £12.00, made with BarSol Quebranta Primero pisco, lime, egg white and bitters, and the menu lists it among the Chotto icons, the original cocktails that defined the bar.

Other house classics include the Flor de Manzana at £12, built on vodka, junmai sake, elderflower, passion fruit and mango, and a Yuzu Martini at £10 with Bombay Sapphire gin, sake, yuzu, lemon and basil. Bottle service, sake and a full spirits list are also available for groups who settle in at the bar for the night.

Live entertainment and DJ sets are part of the Chotto Matte formula, so the room gets louder as the evening goes on. For a conversation over ceviche, the weekday lunch window or the pre-theatre slot is calmer. Late on Friday and Saturday, with the kitchen open until 1:30am, the room behaves more like a bar than a restaurant.

Bookings are made online through the restaurant's Book Now page. Anyone with allergies should tell the team before ordering, since the kitchen warns that bespoke orders cannot be guaranteed allergen-free. If Chotto Matte is full, Señor Ceviche in Kingly Court is about a ten-minute walk west across Soho and serves its own sea bass ceviche at £12.

Frith Street is one of Soho's best-known streets. A short walk south, Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club has been at 47 Frith Street since 1965 and books late shows most nights, and the neon frontage of Bar Italia, open since 1949 at number 22, is the classic spot for a post-dinner espresso.

Head north instead and Frith Street ends at Soho Square, a leafy square with a mock-Tudor gardener's hut at its centre. From there, Tottenham Court Road station and the shops of Oxford Street are a five-minute walk, and Greek Street and Dean Street run parallel with more bars for a late drink.

Address: Chotto Matte Soho, 11-13 Frith Street, London W1D 4RB. Phone: +44 20 7042 7171. Restaurant hours: Monday to Saturday 12pm to 1:30am, Sunday 12pm to midnight. Bar hours: Monday to Saturday until 1am, Sunday until 11:30pm. The nearest stations are Tottenham Court Road and Leicester Square, each about five minutes on foot.

Prices include VAT and a 15% service charge is added. The Express Lunch is weekdays only, and the pre-theatre menu stops at 6:30pm. Gift experiences and group events are booked through the website, and a vegetarian sharing menu is also offered.