Tapas Bar Near Me off Regent Street: Sabor's Walk-In Bar Guide

When you are shopping on Regent Street and searching tapas bar near me, the answer is a few steps away in a short lane called Heddon Street. Sabor, at numbers 35-37, has held a Michelin star since 2018, yet its ground-floor bar and terrace are set aside entirely for people who simply walk in. That combination, starred cooking without a booking, makes it one of the most useful Spanish addresses in the West End.

Sabor is led by chef patron Nieves Barragán Mohacho, who runs the restaurant in partnership with JKS Restaurants. It opened on Heddon Street in 2018, and the name means flavour in Spanish. The Michelin Guide gave it a star that same year, and the restaurant has kept it every year since, according to its own FAQ.

The building is split into four different ways of eating. The Bar on the ground floor is casual and walk-in only. The Counter, also downstairs, is a chef-led seat in front of the open kitchen. La Mesa is a semi-private table for six to ten people beside the bar. Upstairs, El Asador is built around a wood-fired oven, and that is where the restaurant serves its Segovian suckling pig and Galician-style seafood.

The menus follow the same map, moving from the tapas bars of Andalucía to the roasting houses of Castile and the seafood restaurants of Galicia. Handwritten specials boards change daily with seasonal fish, meat and vegetables. For a tapas-bar visit, the Bar and the terrace are the rooms that matter, and they share the dedicated tapas menu.

Begin with the frios section. Bread and Arbequina olive oil is £4, Sabor olives and Marcona almonds are £6 each, and paletilla ibérica from Dehesa de los Monteros, a cured shoulder of acorn-fed pork, is £32.5. Lardo with anchovies and picos, the crunchy Andalucían breadsticks, costs £16.5 and is a smart choice with a glass of manzanilla.

The frituras are what most people come for. Piquillo croquetas and Payoyo croquetas, the second made with goat's cheese from the hills above Cádiz, are £10.5 per portion. Crystal prawns, fried until the shells turn glassy and edible, cost £18.8. Monkfish tempura with chilli jam aioli is £16.5 and soft shell crab with alioli, coriander and chilli is £16.8.

From the eggs and plancha section, the classic tortilla is £14.8 and the txistorra version, made with the thin Basque sausage, is £19.8. Huevo relleno, a stuffed egg in the old Spanish bar tradition, is £9.5. For something more indulgent, the bar sells premium tinned Galician seafood from Laterio ATTIS, including mussels en escabeche at £39.8 and sardines in extra virgin olive oil at £27.8.

The wine list, refreshed in September 2026, is entirely Spanish and starts with sherry by the 100ml glass. Fernando de Castilla's Manzanilla Clásica from Sanlúcar and De la Riva's Miraflores Baja are both £10 a glass, Lustau's almacenista Fino del Puerto is £13, and an oloroso from El Maestro Sierra is £15. Order the manzanilla with the frituras; its salty edge cuts straight through the batter.

Bottles move across the country region by region. Flysch Txakoli from Getaria is £54, Alceo Verdejo from Castilla-La Mancha is also £54, and Granbazán's Etiqueta Ámbar Albariño from Rías Baixas is £80. For a celebration there is cava and Corpinnat from the Penedès, starting with Juvé y Camps Reserva de la Familia at £56 a bottle. Finish with Valdespino's El Candado Pedro Ximénez at £14 for a 70ml glass.

Sabor takes online bookings for The Counter, La Mesa and El Asador for parties of up to ten, but the Bar and the outdoor terrace are held exclusively for walk-ins. When the room is full, the team runs a waiting list. Everyone in your group must be present before you are seated, so do not send one person ahead to hold stools.

The terrace has an awning, heaters and blankets and serves the same menu as The Counter when the weather allows. Small, well-behaved dogs are welcome outside, but dogs are not allowed indoors. A discretionary 15% service charge and a £2 per person filtered water charge are added to every bill, which is worth knowing before you order a third round of croquetas.

Lunch runs from noon on Tuesday to Saturday and dinner starts at 5:30pm from Monday to Saturday. The restaurant is closed all day Sunday and does not serve lunch on Monday. Arriving at noon on a weekday or right at 5:30pm gives you the best chance of a bar stool without a long wait.

If you want certainty, book The Counter instead. Sabor offers dedicated pre-theatre slots there, and if you note your show time in the booking the kitchen paces the meal around it. Cancellations need 24 hours' notice; late cancellations and no-shows are charged £50 per person.

La Mesa costs £65 per person for a selection of tapas and dessert, with sharing mains such as the suckling pig added separately. The restaurant suggests two sharing mains for a table of ten. If you bring your own bottle, corkage is £50 for still wine and £55 for sparkling, with one bottle allowed for parties of up to two.

Heddon Street is a small horseshoe-shaped lane opening off the west side of Regent Street, between Oxford Circus and Piccadilly Circus stations. Both Underground stations are within about a six-minute walk, and the lane itself is closed to traffic, which is why the terrace works so well on mild evenings.

Music fans should look for number 23 Heddon Street, where David Bowie was photographed for the cover of The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust in 1972; a plaque marks the spot. After dinner, cross Regent Street and wander through the lanes of Soho, or head south to Piccadilly Circus if you are catching a show at one of the West End theatres.

Address: 35-37 Heddon Street, London W1B 4BR. Email: info@saborrestaurants.co.uk; events and groups above ten: events@saborrestaurants.co.uk. Hours: Monday dinner from 5:30pm; Tuesday to Saturday lunch from noon and dinner from 5:30pm; closed Sunday. Bar and terrace: walk-in only. Charges: discretionary 15% service plus £2 per person for filtered water. Bookings are made online only, not by phone.