Your favourite restaurants
Bar Brasso, FOUND subscriber favourite restaurants, St. John, Azza Fahmy, Battersea properties, Dorshi, Bridport, MORE
RESTAURANTS • First Word
Good craic
The Skinny: Chef Robin Gill took an early punt on Nine Elms, the neighbourhood between Vauxhall and Battersea that was sparked by the new US Embassy there. When Gill opened Darby’s beside the embassy in 2019, his neighbours were mostly building sites for Battersea Power Station and fancy apartment blocks. Six years on, Nine Elms feels much more ‘lived in,’ with Darby’s at its centre. In September, in an adjoining space, the team opened a casual spot inspired by the small plates cultures of Venice and San Sebastian: Bar Brasso.
The Vibe: Cosy, a little dark, very casual, and cooler than Darby’s. By day, it’s a bakery where the lucky folk who live or work nearby can pop in for coffee, bagels and salt beef sandwiches. By evening, it’s a sexy little joint for dates over charcuterie boards, small plates and cocktails. In summer, you could sit outside with olives and an Aperol Spritz.
The Food: It’s mostly cicchetti (Venetian-style tapas), but there’s heartier fare, too. We started with an enormous cheese and charcuterie board featuring taleggio, 40-month prosciutto and Tuscan fennel salami – extremely good value at £17, including sourdough and butter. At his debut London restaurant, The Dairy in Clapham, Gill used to make his own charcuterie; now he’s teamed up with Cibo.
The highlight among the small plates was ‘Tuscan bangers and mash,’ a cylinder of crumbly cotechino sausage in a moat of cheesy mashed potato with a slick of rich, meaty gravy. The Bourdain toastie was a soft, manageable-sized grilled sandwich of oozing Fontina cheese, Béchamel sauce and mortadella, inspired by the late American chef and TV personality. Delica pumpkin was sweet and soft and contrasted nicely with its bed of stracciatella and pumpkin seed pesto.
We’re stretching the meaning of ‘small plates’ now, but casarecce cacio e pepe was intensely peppery. Beef shin Bolognese arrived on a hunk of sourdough with lashings of 24-month Parmesan. There’s only one dessert, but it’s one you’ll want: a liberally served wodge of light, fluffy, creamy tiramisu.
The Drink: The Campari ads above the bar aggressively suggest a Negroni, and aperitivi are £5 between 5-7p. There’s also wine on tap and European labels by the bottle or glass.
The Verdict: A laidback local in a part of London that finally feels like a neighbourhood. –Laura Price
→ Bar Brasso (Nine Elms) • 3 Viaduct Gdns • Breakfast & Lunch Mon-Fri 8a-4p, Sat-Sun 9a-4p (walk-ins only), Dinner Tue-Sat 5-10p • Book (walk-ins welcome).
LONDON RESTAURANT LINKS: St. John founders Fergus Henderson and Trevor Gulliver retiring after 31 years • Spring founder and Slow Food pioneer Skye Gyngell dies aged 62 • Mexican pozole specialist Maíz opens in Peckham • Nokx Majozi joins Fallow as first chef in residence.
GOODS & SERVICES • FOUND Object
All that slithers
If you’re into sparkle, no doubt you’ll will have visited the Cartier exhibition at the V&A. And whilst reading about the rivalry between Cartier and Fabergé was fascinating, and seeing Grace Kelly’s canary diamond was surprisingly moving, we can all agree it was the twinkling animals that Cartier is so well known for that really made our hearts sing and our eyes triple in size.
Of all the menagerie, the Eternity Snake Necklace stands out among the rest. It once sat on the long neck of Naomi Campbell and is valued at a cool $12 million.
A few hours after I lusted after the exhibition, I passed by the Azza Fahmy in the Burlington Arcade, where the whole window display subtly nods to the show. The real gem is a baby Cartier-like Snake Lock necklace, at a fraction of the price.
Snakes aren’t really a trend. They’re a timeless motif that draws from temple walls and royal crowns, always harking back to Eden. Azza Fahmy’s necklace is a sleek, modern riff on the ancient symbol of regeneration, protection and power.
Made with 18k gold and sterling silver, the layered Roman chain mimics the subtle ripple of scales, not just aesthetically but in the way it moves too. The head, inset with lapis or green onyx eyes, snaps shut like a real serpent’s mouth. If the Cartier snake sang loudly to tempt Eve, this one slithered round her neck and whispered seductively in her ear.
Azza Fahmy’s take speaks a different tongue: scaled back, personal, both trademark and talisman. –Amy Rose Holland
→ Shop: Snake Lock Necklace by Azza Fahmy • £1000.
WORK & PLAY LINKS: Homewares shop Labour and Wait opening Covent Garden outpost • Dishoom running South Asian pop-up market in Shoreditch • Kensington and Chelsea could double council tax bills on second homes.
REAL ESTATE • First Mover
Three for-sale properties in Battersea that recently came to market:
→ Battersea Park Rd (Battersea) • 4BR/4BA/2R, 265 m2 end terrace house • Guide price: £2.775mn • patio garden and roof terrace, plus underground parking • Ownership type: leasehold • Agent: John D Wood & Co.
→ Cotswold Mews (Battersea) • 5BR/3BA, 286 m2 mews • Asking price: £2.95mn • 4 storeys off Battersea Square with private rear courtyard • Ownership type: freehold • Agent: The Modern House.
→ Chelsea Bridge Wharf (Battersea, above) • 3BR/3BA, 180m2 flat • Asking price: £3.95mn • in Centurion with Thames views, balcony running length of flat • Ownership type: leasehold • Agents: Tom Moore & William Hughes-Ward, Savills.
CULTURE & LEISURE • Laid
James • Acoustic + Q&A • Circuit (Kingston) • Fri @ 5p • 2 CDs + 2 tickets, £43 per
The Hives • Alexandra Palace (Haringey) • Sat @ 630p • GA, £55 per
Interplanetary Criminal• O2 Academy Brixton (Brixton) • Sat @ 9p • stalls, £39 per
GETAWAYS • Bridport
Jurassic treasure
The Jurassic Coast is easily my favourite place in the UK. It’s got it all: fossils, beautiful walks, some of the best vintage and antique dealers in the country… and now, my favourite restaurant.
Tucked down a quiet Bridport street (the address is literally “the alley behind The Bull Hotel”), Dorshi is a small-town destination with a cosmopolitan heart. The space is intimate, with an open kitchen and a few tables downstairs, and a relaxed living-room feel upstairs.
Celebrating our recent engagement, my partner and I ordered the menu in almost its entirety. Dumplings are surely where Dorshi shines, but doesn’t rest on its laurels – they’re inventive, confident and addictive. Pork and Bury black pudding, field mushroom with Dorset red cheddar, and hot smoked fish with beancurd and capers: dumplings of two emotional halves, the first euphoric, the second, sad that it’s over.
Small plates like charred organic pork belly with pickled mustard seeds or roasted aubergine with preserved lemon are just as rewarding, layered with flavour, texture and a man-of-the-match-level spice kick. Hakata noodles in a house broth are a comforting, wonderfully simple staple, and a side of plain bao buns allow you to get inventive, mixing multiple dishes into your own unique delicacies.
You could drop in for a midweek snack and be satisfied or, like us, linger over a full feast that moves seamlessly from start to finish, leaving you so satisfyingly full that you’re caught between never wanting to eat again, and desperate to book your next visit.
FOUND Pro: Dorshi is a destination in itself, but there’s plenty more to Bridport. It’s a charming market town with fantastic pubs and bars (The Ropemakers, The Pursuit of Hoppiness), the UK’s oldest butcher (RJ Balson & Son) and a good selection of shops and boutiques, in particular the Art & Vintage Quarter, which rivals London’s top dealers, but without the price tag.
In nearby Herne Bay, it’s almost too easy to lose yourself in the antique market, drink delicious local cider and walk the iconic Golden Cap. Lyme Regis, a 15-minute drive away, is beloved by tourists and lamented by locals, and fully worth a trip for the Ammonite Walkway, but best visited outside summer months. I highly recommend a loop on the X52 open-top bus to Weymouth, where you can really take in the blockbuster view of Chesil Beach, then sample an award-winning ice cream from Rossi’s on Weymouth beach, or eat at Catch at The Old Fish Market.
Finally, take a trip to Charmouth Beach to look for ammonites, belemnites and – if you’re really lucky – a vertebra of an ichthyosaurus. Surrounded by fossil hunters of all ages tap-tap-tapping rocks with fossil hammers, this amateur paleontologist’s tip is just to keep an eye on the shore, where the sea offers up Jurassic and Triassic treasure. –Amy Rose Holland
→ Dorshi (Bridport) • 6 Chancery Ln • Mon 530-8p, Wed-Sat 530-10p • Book.
GETAWAYS LINKS: Inside new East London design hotel Sir Devonshire Square • Checking in at Manchester’s new Mollie’s • Skybus launches LGW-NQY (Cornwall) flights.
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SUBSCRIBER FAVOURITES • The Nines
Top 9 (well, 18) restaurants
We’ve been asking new subscribers to tell us their favourite restaurant right now since FOUND LDN launched in March. Eight months in, we’ve come to a few conclusions: 1) FOUND readers have good taste and 2) London has a lot of great restaurants. Here, in two sets of Nines for classics and new classics, the most-named spots:
NEW CLASSICS