Brat
Shoreditch is sort of the Williamsburg of London, and Brat is the epitome of a great Shoreditch restaurant, effortlessly cool and seemingly uncomplicated, yet exceptional. Everything is cooked in an open kitchen over wood, and smoke permeates the spare, dimly lit dining room. The space pulses with warm energy, and the food is terrific: silken, intense crab soup; spicy beef tartare served with lettuce wraps; a venison chop full of flavor; rice served with roasted duck in a “personal wok,” the base crisp like the bottom of a Korean bibimbap. The wine list leans natural, but the classics are not ignored and great choices abound. I drank a 2020 poulsard from Bénédicte & Stéphane Tissot in the Jura, made without sulfur dioxide, spicy and alive.
4 Redchurch Street, Shoreditch, bratrestaurant.co.uk.
Medlar
Medlar is in an area of Chelsea known as World’s End, yet this smart, unpretentious white-tablecloth bistro is a delightful reason to see life through. A two-course lunch for roughly $50 might include crisp pork croquettes in a celeriac-and-apple rémoulade followed by Cornish brill, a flatfish, with a hazelnut-and-truffle pesto, both thoughtful combinations of textures and contrasting flavors. Medlar offers a serious cheese selection, and the wine list, put together by Melania Battiston, is wide-ranging and well-priced, with plenty of the classics but also many less-familiar options from Europe, Australia, South Africa and the United States.
438 King’s Road, World’s End, medlarrestaurant.co.uk.
Brawn
When it opened in 2010, Brawn, an unprepossessing brick corner restaurant in Bethnal Green in the East End, was one of London’s natural-wine pioneers. Now, it’s one of dozens of casual, hip places, with two significant differences: The extensive list of natural wines is beautifully chosen, and the food is outstanding. An appetizer of cuttlefish, chickpeas and ’nduja was savory and spicy in perfect balance; the pastas, both a lovely agnolotti stuffed with pumpkin in a sage-and-butter sauce and a spaghetti in a hearty ragû of pork shoulder, were extraordinary. I loved an expressive 2021 Roche Bézigon from Jean-Christophe Garnier, a Loire chenin blanc that is difficult to find in the United States.
49 Columbia Road, Bethnal Green, brawn.co.
Noble Rot
Noble Rot started as a cheeky wine zine. Now it has expanded to an empire with restaurants, a retail shop, a book and an import business. The secret? Exquisite taste, an unpretentious attitude and a sense of humor. Its second restaurant, in a tight but comfortable townhouse in Soho, seems perennially packed for the classic bistro fare and the exceedingly deep wine list. You could start by exploring the world of English sparkling wine — the list offers seven options, more than most places. The list is also mostly European, and you can drink exceedingly well for under $75, from an excellent selection of Beaujolais, for example. But if you can splurge, this is a place to do it, because you can find some aged treasures, like a wonderful 1978 St.-Julien from Château Léoville Barton, with textbook complex, savory flavors, for roughly $190. The food lives up to the wine. We had lamb chops with a welcome muttony tang, and an excellent rabbit loin.
2 Greek Street, Soho, noblerot.co.uk.
