BRAT Restaurant — Restaurant in London

In my research on where I was going to go during my trip to London, I stumbled upon Brat. A one Michelin Starred joint that exclusively cooks with fire. No electricity. Just fire. From my table, I could see a massive, wood-burning oven and a giant firepit with grates at three different height levels, presumably for different heat intensities. I've heard of places like this, and I was excited to try one out for myself.

We started off with the Grilled Bread (with Girolles & Berkswell). We saw them throw it in the oven, bake right in front of our eyes, and then get adorned with some cheese and the mushrooms. A slight char, flavorful, salty cheese, and the umami from the mushrooms made this a true banger.

We ordered a small plate next, the Lamb Chop with Grilled Sweetbreads. The lamb chop had that same, good char. Tender and simply seasoned. Served with a couple of sweetbreads, which, if you've never had, you should. They are officially a new texture for me, a slight creaminess. Very unique. Very delicious.

Then we ordered a main, the Lemon Sole. A whole fish, face and all, trapped in a cage and roasted over the fire. Charred, barely seasoned, the meat singing its own praises. There aren't a lot of experiences as visceral as eating a whole fish. Amazing. FYI, though, this fish had both more and smaller pin bones that you average fish, so you're gonna work for your prize.

Then we got another main, the Roast Duck Rice. This dish was unbelievable. The rice was cooked in the duck fat, the duck was ultra crispy, and the whole mushrooms and slices of onion just made this campfire-like dish so unctuous. Very heavy, with no relief, in a good way.

With all our food, we got a couple of sides, the Smoked Potatoes and the Wood Roasted Greens. Both great. Buttery potatoes served whole, so you get that pop of the skin with every bite. The stuff of dreams. And the green were nice. Not like, mega delicious, but you need that freshness to break up the heaviness of the whole meal. It was covered in that same cheese that was on the bread. A good side.

Then it was time for dessert, the Burnt Cheesecake & Nectarine. The cheesecake was pure velvet. Amazing. It was covered with a fine layer of ash on top, which sounds not good, but it was very good. I think the one I had was served with a pear, as opposed to the new menu version, but either way, a slice of fruit complements this well, because the flavor is very neutral. Overall, great.

Overall, I loved this place. Everything they served looked so dang rustic, like it was served to me at a campsite, right out of the fire. But at the same time, it was delicate, and worthy of Michelin's attention. I also liked the way they highlighted various ingredients. The same mushrooms and cheeses kept showing up in their different dishes in different ways, and they played a good part. Yes, come here....

This restaurant is a Michelin one star, and the food deserves one star albeit here at Google reviews and certainly not at Michelin. The food was merely okay (with exceptions) and very far out from the usual Michelin one star experience anywhere else in Europe.

We ordered a drink each and the negroni and M&M (mezcal and amaro) were nice. No appetisers/kitchen greetings or bread are offered. We wanted a bottle of white wine and there is a large selection to choose from, nothing of which is priced particularly attractive. With some help of the sommelier we picked a bottle of Ota Ševčík Grüner Veltliner. The Vivino crowd gives it a 3.6 rating, which is fair if not very generous. The wine list is available at the restaurant’s website for those interested.

The atmosphere at Brat is cozy and laid back, certainly not upscale or snooty. Although completely full, it was not noisy. Tableware, glassware and cutlery were of the kind that makes IKEA look good; napkins were made of paper. The water bottle (not charged) looks like being refilled often without proper cleaning. Interestingly the towels on the toilet are made of actual cotton - I was tempted to take one back to the table. Overall not what we’d expect at a fine dining restaurant (also not one with a relaxed vibe).

As food we ordered four starters, one main dish and two sides to share. The scallop was fine, but tiny (I don’t recall ever having seen such a small scallop). The grilled cucumber with crab was nice, but showed no sign of grilling in colour, taste or temperature. The grilled green peppers were okay, but unremarkable (think pimentos de padron as had everywhere in Spain). The only starter worthy of a Michelin star was the monkfish and melon salad, which had great flavour and balance. Our main dishes were mutton chop, roasted vegetables and grilled bread with burnt onion butter. The vegetables were very nice and tasty. Unfortunately the grilled bread was somewhat burned, I did not notice the butter having any (burnt) onion flavour. The worst thing was however that lamb meat was seriously overcooked and the ribs were inseparable (I’m still not sure if they were intended for human consumption). After reclamation the lamb was swiftly taken off the bill, we declined a friendly offer to replace as it would have taken circa an hour extra. As dessert we shared a cheese cake with apricot, which was very nice and offered as goodwill.

Service was fine, friendly and professional. Criticism (as well as compliments) were handled fine. Overall price we paid was close to...

I was super excited to go this restaurant. It's been on my list for more than 6 months. My friend made a 9:15 reservation and when we arrived at about 9:20 our table wasn't ready and we were told we'd be set up at a barrel table with a drink. The drink or even someone to take the drink order never appeared. Then once I table was ready, we were seated right in front of a service station without being warned so I moved the table back so my friend could move out of the pathway a bit and that's when we were told about the service station.

We then realized that we each had a different menu. My friend's menu had venison on it and I got immediately excited as I LOVE venison! We informed the waitress who then returned with a menu with a number of things crossed off - namely, the venison. So I agreed to order a steak even though it really wasn't what I wanted. Then we moved on to the wine list, which had a number of options unavailable & for a Spanish restaurant was heavily French-influenced and not really from regions bordering the Basque region. We chose a wine from Saint-Joseph wine & then were informed that they no longer had this wine. So we chose another French red we'd been considering that was more expensive & then wondered if the restaurant would give us the wine at the lower price which is something that most good restaurants do when they are clearly disappointing their customers. That did NOT happen. Then the sommelier came with the other wine and I tasted it and it was completely corked. My friend tasted it and agree & I asked the sommelier if he'd tasted it and he said he had. I was completely baffled! We sent it back and then ordered a Ribeiro del Duero wine was so so but not at least not corked. We noted that the sommelier did NOT return with the new wine but that our server did. Hmmm...

I did appreciate that they cooked my parts of the steak a bit more and the appetizer was pretty good but I literally can't even recall it. We had an after dinner drink which was very good but this meal was not worth the $222 I spent that night. I left extremely disappointed in the food and especially the overall service. Our server was quite good but the other staff members left much to be desired. I will not be recommending this restaurant to anyone.

I would rate the food a 3.5 but I can't find...