Last Updated on November 1, 2024
Brat, Redchurch Street – Basque dining via Wales in Shoreditch
Make your way to the side door of Smoking Goat on Redchurch Street, through a scruffy entrance hall where the only clue about what is upstairs is the neatly lined up bottles of wines and climb the lino-clad stairs. Brat, with one Michelin Star, is the brainchild of Tomos Parry from Anglesey whose previous work includes being head chef at Kitty Fisher’s together with time at both the River Cafe and Noma. And, it’s apparently intended to celebrate both his Welsh heritage and his love of Basque country food.
You’ll find yourself in what looks much like a cross between an old pub and a rather scruffy dining room, with an array of wood-fired grills and ovens lining the back wall and classroom-like rows of tables stretching across the room. Arrive towards the end of service as we did and the place will be packed to the brim. If you have to wait, there’s a bar (you can eat there too and if I was in the area I’d do just that). It’s worth it, whether you have to wait or not.
What’s on offer is earthy, wholesome and unpretentious. On my first visit, I shared a sirloin – genuinely redolent of the meat on offer in the Cider Houses around San Sebastien. This time, our group of three, with two pescatarians in the mix, had intended to order the signature Turbot, after which the place was named. But by service at 2.15 on a busy Friday lunchtime, there was none left. No matter, I got to try the roast duck rice I’d been eyeing up from afar on my previous visit, while my guests feasted on John Dory. And there was plenty more to devour…
The menu is very much one for sharing and there’s a good offering of wine and more by the glass together with an extensive list by the bottle as befits a restaurant that is currently 81st on Worlds Best Restaurant listing. I’d already earmarked the Spider Crab Toast from my previous visit as one that we should all try again and we added two more dishes to that to start. Picking wine that might work with everything we were ordering was challenging, but we all enjoyed the rosé Thymiopoulos, Xinomavro, Naoussa, Greece 2020 which is available by the glass and the bottle. With notes of wild strawberries and apricot, it was robust enough to drink with the Duck Rice and not too overwhelming for the John Dory.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing and knowing that Parry sees his inspiration in part being from The Basque, it’s worth noting that these toasts could just as easily appear in a Pintxos bar in San Sebastian, piled high with buttery part charred morsels of cabbage topping a smokey, salty mix of crab meat and roe. I’m always hesitant to recommend favourites to foodie friends when I’m sitting opposite them in case my taste is not reciprocated but here we were all in agreement.
Grilled bread, girolles and Spenwood was my personal choice – what arrived was a spectacular puffed-up flatbread (made in-house – we saw them being prepared later on when the main service had finished), doused in butter fried girolles with perhaps a whiff of truffle, all topped with salty grated curls of Spenwood and finely diced chives.
The prettiest dish of mackerel with soused cucumber dashi broth came with a mix of pickled and fresh chunks of cucumber, baby radishes and heritage golden tomatoes that were superbly sweet. The mackerel was lightly grilled, tender and fragrant from a dill garnish. Delicious.
Roast duck rice didn’t disappoint, with perfectly pink and tender duck breast fanned out over a paella-like mixture of crispy-bottomed savoury rice laced with beetroot and tiny purple grapes. My pescatarian companions kept nicking mouthfuls of the rice and veg, which really only goes to show how good this dish was. It came with a palate cleansing mixed green salad with kumquat – a lovely idea that helped elevate the dish. Now, I just want to pop back in and sit and the bar. I’ll be happy enough with some grilled flatbread to start and a helping of this for my main!
My companions loved the John Dory, served on the bone and the sweet flesh perfectly cooked. Perhaps we should have ordered more though, the smaller size was a bit light for two.
No matter, they had an extra smoked potato each (!), small, waxy mouthfuls served in a buttery sauce, topped with sea-salt and finely diced chives.
Wood roasted greens turned out to be kale topped with grated cheese (more Spenwood?) and perhaps not quite as good as the same dish I’d enjoyed the week before where I seem to remember more of a mix of vegetables and more of a char. But that can be explained by a desire to serve seasonal, fresh vegetables and by the fact we were eating towards the end of service on a Friday.
The burnt cheesecake and pear was fantastically light textured and fluffy with a rich flavoured blackboard-paint-like ‘burnt’ top that looked impressive and somehow had char but no bitterness. I’d spotted the whole cheesecakes lined up at the entrance and was delighted to actually get to try for myself. Tender morsels of pear and cream were a lovely accompaniment.
One of my companions ordered the caramel cream and declared it the best he’d ever eaten, with a luscious dark sauce topping the beautifully wobbly eggy custard.
For those looking for a lighter option, there’s the lemon sorbet chosen by the third person in our group fresh and tangy, a perfect way to end the meal if you’ve eaten too much but just want to end things in style.
London restaurants that make it onto the Michelin star list can sometimes suffer. It’s as if a hidden secret has suddenly been made public and the influx of food tourists means the experience that put the restaurant there in the first place is impaired. Brat, which only got its star this year, has done a great job of rising to the challenge – and I’m looking forward to my third visit!
4 Redchurch St,
London
E1 6JL
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