We went down to the newly refurbished restaurant to have a taste of the new menu – and have a chat to the inspiring individuals behind it
A last-minute change of plans meant that I ended up going to the press dinner at Brigade Bar & Kitchen instead of my colleague. As a relative newbie to the restaurant scene in London, I was, in fact, unaware of what Brigade was all about. Giving myself a slap on the wrist for being a bad journalist who had failed to do her research properly, I walked down Tooley Street naively thinking this was going to be ‘just another restaurant in London Bridge'.
I was therefore blown away (alongside a fair share of embarrassed) by what I discovered on arrival: here, the chefs aren’t your average catering college-trained professionals holding CVs studded with Michelin-starred restaurant experience. Rather, they are current or former homeless people who have used the medium of food to turn their lives around.
Simon Boyle set up the restaurant and the social enterprise Beyond Food, with his late wife. The initiative has helped hundreds of apprentices not only get out of homelessness, but become full-time culinary professionals. ‘Many of our apprentices have gone on to work at top London restaurants,’ explains Simon.
Through various programmes, the restaurant helps homeless people reconnect with how to take care of themselves through food and how to be an employee before sending them off to get jobs in the hospitality industry.
Visiting Brigade and holding events here will help support this enterprise, which might seem like enough incentive to do so. But what about the venue space itself and what about the food?
Excitingly, both are a pleasure. Let’s start with the venue, which holds four event spaces upstairs (meeting rooms in the day, PDRs at night), as well as a private dining room in the main restaurant. This is on top of a semi-private dining area in the restaurant and a chef’s table upstairs, which is super popular with corporates.
Set in London’s first ever fire station, it’s got plenty of historical, industrial flair, mixed with a refurbished interior design, which makes it modern and inviting. The walls are filled with pictures of apprentices that have gone on to do exceedingly well, reminding you all the while of the positive spirit this place holds.
And the food? Brilliant. As you might expect, it’s not fancy pants (no sous vide machines and liquid nitrogen here), but it doesn’t have to be. Besides, that’s what Simon Boyle and head chef Pete Denhart’s food is all about anyway: simple cooking where the ingredients speak for themselves. That’s why only the highest quality produce (locally sourced, too) is being used in what Boyle describes as ‘an exciting smoke and grill movement’.
We were given a feast with highlights including the salty beef dripping focaccia, improved further by various homemade butters; wood-roasted dry-aged Cornish bone-in sirloin with a roasted beetroot, chickpea, orange and carrot salad on the side (so tender and flavoursome); and Dartmoor lamb chop with a wood-roasted turnip and mint sauce. Oh, and the sticky toffee pudding we had to finish is well worth a mention. All served with a side of conscience.
So yeah, both food and venue capabilities deliver at Brigade. And with the added incentive of supporting a social movement that improves the lives of so many disadvantaged Londoners, booking your next event here seems like a no-brainer to me.
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