Chef’s table
From whisky vending machines and punch fountains to butter chicken wings and masala pork scratchings – Brigadiers is redefining Indian dining in the capital
Feast on lavish Indian barbecue dishes from new London restaurant Brigadiers
From the group behind Sabor, Hoppers and Lyle’s, JKS Restaurants has opened Brigadiers in the City of London, a barbecue joint and drinking den inspired by the army mess taverns of India. Wrapped around the corner of the cathedral-sized Bloomberg Arcade, Brigadiers is as slick as the crowds it attracts. Red leather booths sit alongside plush velvet curtains, distressed mirrored walls and monkey lamps. There are two bars – Blighters and The Tap Room, where you can find a whisky vending machine, on-tap cocktails, champagne and punch fountains, and speedy, self-serve beer taps – and then the restaurant proper.
The menu starts with smaller beer snacks before moving on to heartier platters of kebabs, chops and biryanis. Puffy, crisp, super-savoury chicken-skin crackers topped with chicken, soured cream and a wafer-thin slither of radish are a light way to start, before moving on to onion bhajis oozing with gruyère and mozzarella, with a silky mango chutney on the side. Buttery brioche buns filled with flaky, fragrant fish flavoured with ginger, garlic and cumin are like posh Indian fish finger sarnies.
If you’re only going to order one snack, though, make it the moreish BBQ butter chicken wings (or make them yourself using the recipe on page 82, from co-founder and group executive chef Karam Sethi) – succulent smoky chicken basks in a rich concoction of double cream and cashew nut paste before falling from the bone.
Leave room for the sikandari kid goat shoulder – tender chunks of goat and slivers of crunchy lacha onions top rich, buttery parathas. Save one of the parathas to tear apart and dip into sides of fiery red chilli, refreshing green chilli sauce and cooling cucumber raita.
Desserts lighten the palate after all that barbecue smoke. Four types of soft-serve kulfi are on offer, but the best is the roasted, slightly spicy, kheer flavour served with chunks of chargrilled saffron pear and nuggets of candied walnut. brigadierslondon.com
• For the green chilli chutney, put all of the ingredients into a food processor with a little seasoning, and whizz until smooth.
• Skewer 4 pieces of paneer on each of 4 skewers, alternating with pieces of pepper and onion. Heat a grill (or BBQ in warmer weather) to high and cook the skewers for 4-5 minutes on each side until charred, then serve sprinkled generously with the kabab masala, coriander and green chilli chutney.
PER SERVING 1,006 KCALS | FAT 71.8G SATURATES 38.7G | CARBS 27G | SUGARS 22.9G FIBRE 5.1G | PROTEIN 60.3G | SALT 5.3G