Shoreditch in east London can be a bit much these days. The city’s gravitational pull moved eastwards many moons ago, but in recent years this particular part of it has hit a nadir of skyscrapers, slick hotel openings and post-bottomless brunch screaming. However, wander down Leonard Street, and you’ll spot what seems to be a large orange acorn marking the Mexican restaurant, Zapote.
It’s not an acorn, though; it’s a soft, fleshy, sweet fruit called a sapote which, very roughly speaking, looks like a peach mated with a beef tomato and tastes like sweet potato. The sapote is hugely popular from southern Mexico all the way to Nicaragua, and in some areas of south-east Asia, too, as well as in this new opening by chef Yahir Gonzalez, who himself hails from Aguascalientes in central Mexico. Zapote is co-founded by Tony Geary, an industry stalwart with long experience of running some of the more hectic of London’s dining establishments, among them Sketch, before overseeing the 20-restaurant roster of the Aqua group, which includes Hutong, Aqua Shard, Aqua Kyoto and so on.
