Brat is Redchurch Street's hottest new restaurant

Hot property: Brat in Shoreditch is one of the most exciting new openings in E2
Benjamin McMahon

Redchurch Street is the livewire that runs through E2.

There’s Shoreditch House and cult bar The Boundary, outposts of le chic French brands APC and Aimé, and Radio, the salon loved by Vogue staffers. It’s just acquired its latest, hot real estate. Neighbours, say hello to new restaurant Brat, which opened for its soft launch last week.

It’s the first solo restaurant from award-winning Welsh chef Tomos Parry, previously head chef at Kitty Fisher’s, and it’s already becoming the most sought-after table in town. Designer Henry Holland took a select group of fashion editors there last week and Parry says he’s looking forward to welcoming many of his regular A-listers from Kitty’s to his new east London destination — his Mayfair restaurant attracted everyone from David Cameron to Kate Moss.

Though there’s more to the hype than the crowd. The northern Spanish menu is cooked over an open wood fire and includes grilled bread with anchovies, and oysters roasted with seaweed. The butter has induced paroxysms in those lucky enough to try it already but the main event is a giant, 1.2kg slow-cooked turbot, designed to share.

Brat (slang for turbot) opened to the public on Saturday and many of the capital’s top chefs and foodies have swung by for a taste of the turbot. This is what you need to know.

Benjamin McMahon

The headliner

Parry is one of the biggest names on the capital’s dining scene. The Young British Foodie Chef of the Year 2014 calls Brat “a place I would want to eat” and says it focuses on a “particularly gentle and simple” style of fire cooking, with a menu that champions excellent produce. If you’re lucky, you’ll get to see the gastronomic pyromaniac at work.

The A-team

Parry is the star but there’s a strong team behind-the-scenes. Dan Keeling, founder of Noble Rot magazine and restaurant, helped put together the wine list, which features a few interesting wines from old cellars alongside a list of sherries they’re beginning to bring into the country. The Brat team also enlisted the help of typographer Darryl Lim, used by Smoking Goat downstairs, who has customised a font especially for the restaurant, blending Celtic and Basque typefaces.

Benjamin McMahon

Dish it up

Brat’s menu is all about the grill. Everything on the menu is done in the style of fire cooking recognisable from Getaria, a coastal town in the Basque country. Generally, the rule is “buy well and don’t ruin it”, says Parry. He works closely with farmers and fishermen to structure the dishes around native ingredients at the peak of their season.

The starters kick off with quick dishes including Carmarthen ham, fresh cheese and grilled baby peas. The wood-fire grilled breads are a stand-out, especially Parry’s garlic-bread alternative, a fluffy grilled flatbread drizzled with olive oil and briny anchovies, made using organic grain flour from one of the last remaining stoneground flour mills in Britain.

Then, the main act: the £75, 1.2kg whole turbot, slow-cooked on the grill, It’s firm and succulent with a delicate flavour and a light sprinkle of salt on top for a final touch. Other dishes include slow-grilled red mullet, wild mussel and cockle soup and offal hotpot with laverbread and potatoes. Save room for the wood-fired cheesecake with rhubarb and Parry’s famous brown bread ice cream.

The Brat pack

Parry’s following isn’t short on A-listers. He’s on waving terms with Brad Pitt and Bradley Cooper. After fashion designer Henry Holland visited he joked on his Instagram: “Someone named a restaurant after me. #grateful.” It’s already attracted the insider foodie crowd, from Matt Osborne, head chef at new neighbourhood restaurant Ham in West Hampstead, to Conor Daly from new Italian Sorella in Clapham. London food guru Clerkenwell Boy says it has the “menu of dreams”.

Fay Maschler's 50 favourite restaurants in London

1/50

The hotspot

Brat is above Smoking Goat, close to Peruvian hot spot Andina and The Boundary’s buzzing rooftop bar. Dishoom and The Albion are on neighbouring Boundary street and Shoreditch House, a minute’s walk away, will bring in a steady stream of A-list types. The entrance is understated, with a black awning reading “Brat”, and mottled wine bottles over the door — which adds to the hype.

It’s also positioned close to the many ad and creative agencies based in the area and the cooler tech companies on the fringe of Silicon Roundabout. Expect to see this crowd there for networking dinners.

Inside look

The 1930s stairwell leads guests into the relaxed upstairs dining room. It’s cool, simple and stripped-back feel, with Art Deco wood panelling, and large steel framed windows, which flood the room with natural light. The kitchen is surrounded by a counter bar with high stools. Parry encourages guests to make an entire afternoon or evening of it, beginning at the bar with a few dishes and a sherry before retiring to the dining table to enjoy some larger plates.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in