I
n the market to check out a new eatery? An industrial space in SE15 will, from October, be dishing up contemporary fare alongside low-intervention natural wines.
With Nicholas Balfe at the helm (you know, head honcho at Salon, the inventive restaurant in Brixton), sustainability will be at the fore, with the kitchen using responsibly-sourced ingredients from local suppliers and butchering whole animals.
The brasserie will be divided into two parts: one side dedicated to the bar, with diners able to perch at window ledges and seats kept aside for walk-in guests; the other will be home to the dining room, with low mahogany-topped tables and mid-century modernist chairs.
Breakfast, lunch and dinner, the converted warehouse block will cater for all three meals, with a range of bistro-style delights. First thing in the morning, enjoy the likes of on-site baked pastries and sourdough tartines with house-cured salmon; come midday, pop in for potato, chanterelle and Vacherin pie or a salad of figs, candied walnuts and Tymsboro goat’s cheese; and for supper, devour small, inventive plates including smoked pollock or 50-day aged rump cap with wild garlic aioli.
What else? The team will work towards a closed loop model, re-purposing over 90% of waste, with herb stalks incorporated into ferments and infusions and spent milk from making coffees used to produce curd cheese.
Drinks-wise, they’re using artisanal producers and will be pouring an extensive selection of vino from the Jura region of France, known for its unusual indigenous varietals and organically-run estates. Bespoke concoctions will also feature on the menu, using botanicals and tinctures from the kitchen garden. Rosemary pisco sour: we’ll be first in line for one of those.
Main image: Matt Russell