Restaurateur and chef Victor Garvey is opening Sibarita, a wine and cheese bar, on Maiden Lane in Covent Garden on Friday 9 June.
The new venue will be just a few doors away from Garvey’s acclaimed modern Spanish restaurant, Encant.
Garvey is partnering with his father, also Victor, for the project, fulfilling a long-held ambition of theirs to open what the latter describes as “the kind of laid-back wine and cheese joint we like to go to ourselves.”
Head chef will be Krisztian Palinkas, who has worked alongside Victor for three years and with whom he happily shares credit for Encant’s success. Garvey said, “Krisztian is a real talent and it’s time he had his own kitchen.' In preparation for Sibarita, Palinkas has taken an extensive tour of Barcelona and Catalunya for inspiration.
The 26-cover, one-storey site at 7 Maiden Lane will welcome both bookings and walk-ins; it’s intended, said Garvey to be “fun, casual and affordable, a place anyone can drop into at any time on their way to or from somewhere else,” or while waiting for a table to become available at Encant, which is often fully-booked.
Sibarita, meaning sybarite or epicure in Spanish, will offer a selection of highest quality cheese and charcuterie as well as a menu of tapas-style dishes rooted in Spain but also giving flight to Krisztian’s creativity, inspired by other cuisines and countries he is passionate about.
The cheese selection will feature Picos de Valdeon Azul, La Serena and Tetilla, while charcuterie will be sourced from all around Spain and include several varieties of jamon iberico de Bellota 5J.
Among the new dishes created for Sibarita are Crispy ‘Calamares a la Romana’ with Alegria Pepper and Toasted Coriander; Free-range Chicken ‘Chilindron’ with Crispy Serrano Ham Salpicon; and Oven-baked Torta Del Casar cheese with Farmer’s Market Crudite´s and Garlic Bread.