Ceviche Bar Near Me in Covent Garden: SUSHISAMBA's Rooftop Seviche Menu

SUSHISAMBA Covent Garden occupies the upper level of the Opera Terrace at 35 The Market Building, London WC2E 8RF, looking down on the Piazza through a glass roof designed by Eric Parry. Its raw section lists four seviches and three tiraditos, starting at £12 for a mushroom version and topping out at £22 for tuna in a spicy red yuzu tiger's milk. If your ceviche bar near me search lands you in the West End, this is the room where Peruvian curing meets a Japanese sushi counter and a Brazilian grill.

The SUSHISAMBA name began in New York City in 1999, when entrepreneur Shimon Bokovza opened a restaurant built on the food of Japanese communities in Brazil and Peru. The group stayed independently owned until 2023, when Dubai-based Shamal Holding acquired it. London got its first branch in 2012 at Heron Tower in the City, high above Bishopsgate.

Covent Garden was the second London address. The group took over the entire upper east side of the Opera Terrace, a 9,000 square foot space with a balcony that had previously housed Brasserie Blanc and Chez Gerard, according to Restaurant Online's 2018 report on the move. The Market Building below is Grade II-listed, and the terrace runs the length of the market's east side.

The Covent Garden estate's directory lists a 128-seat dining room, a bar for up to 26 guests and a sushi bar with 14 counter seats. Above the bar hangs what the restaurant calls a living canopy ceiling of plants and flowers. The kitchen is open, so the robata grill and the sushi chefs are both in view from most tables.

There is also a terrace overlooking the Piazza, a private dining room with its own entrance and terrace, and a hidden speakeasy with a separate menu. For seviche, the counter is the seat to ask for: you watch the fish being cut, and the chefs plate raw dishes a few feet away. The current Samba Hour menu credits Regional Executive Sushi Chef Kazutoshi Kawada and Chef de Cuisine Philippe Carponen.

The Tuna Seviche at £22 is the house signature and appears on the Taste of Samba tasting menu too. It comes with crispy white carrots and a spicy red yuzu tiger's milk, so it is sharper and hotter than a classic Lima plate. The Salmon Seviche at £19 takes a different route, with tamarind, sesame, seaweed and macadamia.

The Classico, also £19, is the one to order if you want a reference point. White fish, sweet potato, toasted cancha corn and plantain chips sit in a coconut tiger's milk, which softens the lime. Vegetarians get a Mushroom Seviche at £12 with portobello, shimeji, avocado and an aji panca tiger's milk.

Tiradito is the thin-sliced cousin of ceviche, dressed rather than marinated. The Kanpachi Tiradito at £18 uses yuzu, black truffle oil, garlic and chive. The Toro version at £22 adds a wasabi pickle and yuzu caviar to fatty tuna belly, and the Yellowtail at £16 is dressed with jalapeño and lemongrass. Order one seviche and one tiradito side by side to taste the difference between a cure and a dressing.

Crispy taquitos arrive two per order, and the yellowtail with avocado and miso costs £24. From the robata, the black cod anticucho with miso is £34, and the full Robata Black Cod main with Peruvian asparagus is £49. The Brazilian side of the menu shows up in a Moqueca Mista at £46, a coconut seafood stew with dendê oil and chimichurri rice.

To drink, the Samba Sour at £17 is the restaurant's modern take on a Pisco Sour, made with BarSol Primera Quebranta pisco, Maraschino liqueur and turmeric, shaken with Japanese citrus and vegan egg whites. The sake list is long, with glasses, carafes and bottles, and staff can suggest a pairing for a seviche course.

The Vivo Lunch runs daily from 12:00 to 18:00 at £29.50 for two courses, and one of the starter choices is the Mushroom Seviche. It is limited to eight guests per table and is not served on 24, 25 and 31 December or 1 January. It is the cheapest way to eat here with a view of the Piazza in daylight.

Samba Hour runs Monday to Friday from 3 pm to 6 pm at the bar. The September 2026 menu lists a Classic Margarita at £10, Asahi at £6, a yellowtail taquito at £8, torched salmon nigiri at £8 and a black cod anticucho at £8. Seviche is not on that list, so pair a happy-hour drink with a plate from the main menu if you want something raw.

For a full tour, the Signature Taste of Samba costs £95 per person with a two-guest minimum and includes the tuna seviche and the kanpachi tiradito. From 11 November to 6 January the restaurant serves a six-course festive truffle version at both London branches.

The dress code is smart casual. Smart trainers are fine, but the restaurant asks guests to avoid tracksuits, denim shorts, flip flops, sliders and beachwear, and says entry may be refused. Tables can be booked up to two months ahead, while the bar takes walk-ins. Groups of nine or more book through the private dining room.

The Covent Garden branch no longer accepts cash, only Visa, MasterCard and Amex. Menu prices include 20% VAT, and a discretionary 15% service charge is added to the bill, which matters when you budget a £22 seviche plus drinks.

Leave through the market and you are already in one of London's busiest pedestrian squares. Street performers work the West Piazza in front of St Paul's Church, the actors' church designed by Inigo Jones, and its garden is a quieter place to sit after a long lunch. The Royal Opera House frames the north-east corner of the Piazza.

Walk north up Neal Street to reach Neal's Yard, the small courtyard of painted shopfronts, then continue to Seven Dials, where seven streets meet at a sundial pillar. If you want a second Peruvian stop in the West End, Señor Ceviche in Kingly Court near Carnaby Street is about a 15-minute walk west.

Address: SUSHISAMBA Covent Garden, 35 The Market Building, London WC2E 8RF. Reservations: +44 20 3053 0000. Email: coventgarden@sushisamba.com. The nearest Underground station is Covent Garden on the Piccadilly line, a few minutes' walk from the market.

Hours: Monday to Thursday 12 pm to 1 am, last seating 11 pm. Friday and Saturday 12 pm to 1:30 am, last seating 11:30 pm. Sunday 12 pm to midnight, last seating 10 pm. Book the sushi counter if you want to watch the seviche being made, and ask the Karpo APP for a pre-theatre plan if you are heading to a show nearby afterwards.