Having lived in Central London for the last four years, I have decided I never want to leave. I love it here way too much and when the time comes to settle down in the suburbs, BW will have to pry me away from my beloved place. Everything is so readily available, convenient, and close by that I can just walk there and even the car is collecting dust. Well, I guess not everything is close by and convenient, especially when it comes to the new Brigadiers restaurant in Bank.
You see, Bank is in the city and as much as I admire the pretty buildings and the bustle of the work crowds, it is an absolute nightmare to get to. You either pay out of your nose for an Uber, face a long, packed commute, or curse as you try to find parking simply anywhere – it just isn’t worth the journey sometimes. But what do you do when a new restaurant opens up there, one that is from the people behind Gymkhana, Hoppers, Trishna and the likes? Well, you have no choice but to make the journey.
Miraculously, I managed to snag a booking for four on a Friday night there and upon entering, it is definitely a different vibe to their other sister restaurants. The restaurant is split up into 8 different parts with private dining rooms, the main dining room, games room and others too, all furnished with the same dark polished wood interior. Hungry, we got ordering.
The Food at Brigadiers
INDO CHINESE CHICKEN LETTUCE CUPS [£7.50]Indochinese chicken lettuce cups arrived first to the table. They looked promising and comprised of stir-fried chicken mixed with sesame seeds and topped with crunchies. These were decent but nothing memorable. Perhaps the butter chicken wings would have been a better order.
CHICKEN SKINS [£6.00]Crispy, thin chicken skins that acted as crackers for the lime pickles they had put atop it. Although different, I did not find any of the components to really stand out to me.
AFGHAN LAMB CANNON KEBAB SKEWERS [£7.50 X 2]This afghan lamb skewer was phenomenally good, so good that we ordered another portion despite being almost full just from starters. The lamb was beautifully soft and tender with thin slivers of lamb fat and sweet peppers in between the pieces. I can’t help but to wipe a little spittle from my mouth whilst writing this – it was thaaat good.
AMRITSARI FISH PAOS [£9.00]The cutest little amritsari fish sliders arrived to our table next. Mini fish fillets that had been battered in well seasoned gram flour and fried to a delectable crisp with the interior being incredibly soft and flaky. It had been sandwiched in a mini slider bun alongside crispy onion strings and a cooling raita.
ALOO GOBHI VADA PAO [£8.00]Then we ordered the vegetarian alternative, the aloo gobhi vada pao aka potato cauliflower slider. Again, this was exceptionally good as well as spicy, and they had served it with a scattering of chilli powder and fried rice puffs.
TANDOORI MASALA JHEENGA [£20.00]Tandoori prawns arrived almost burnt; was it supposed to be this black? These had the table divided. Whilst I enjoyed the meatyness of the prawns, I was not keen on the heavy use of a particular spice that I can’t put my finger on and found it overpowered almost every single other seasoning used. BW, on the other hand, loved the prawns!
HALF RACK LAMB CHOPS [£19.00]Huge, meaty lamb chops arrived on a hot plate with onions and peppers sizzling away. The chops had been delightfully blackened from the grill and still managed to be juicy and pink when bitten into. The flavour from the marinade was simple but you could certainly pick up on the aromatics from the tandoori masala.
CHICKEN CHOPS [£12.00]Chicken thighs that had been treated just as well as the lamb chops and thrown on the grill for some extra smokiness.
WOOD ROAST AUBERGINE [£12.50]Slow roasted aubergine that was served upon a bed of slightly crunchy chana dahl. A fantastic vegetarian dish to break up all the heavily spiced meat we had been eating.
HOUSE DAL [£5.00]
The house dal is always a good accompaniment at most Indian restaurants, especially one from the JKS group.
The total bill amounted to approximately £177 for four people, including drinks and service, so £44 each. Crikey, this was quite pricey and for sure, can be saved for a very nice date, treating a client, or pay day dinner with the girls. I’m not too sure it’s the kind of place you would go for an anniversary but maybe hiring out the private room for your birthday would be good fun. The food at Brigadiers is exceptionally good, you can’t expect any less from the JKS group, but is it so, so, so good that I would venture out to Bank to dine there again? Perhaps not.
