Despite the well-intentioned landscaping, Embassy Gardens feels more sterile corporate campus than neighbourhood hangout. That is, until you catch a flicker of amber light, the scent of oven-hot bread, and a spike of laughter ricocheting from an open door. Inside is Robin Gill’s Bar Brasso: a modern cicchetti bar loosely modelled on Venetian bacari, with a little San Sebastian mixed through.
The space is contemporary, but its high ceilings and sleek, full-length glass are cleverly offset by herringbone floors, red-and-white checked tablecloths, and shelves lined with aperitivi. There’s a trace of the polish seen at its neighbour, Darby’s, but while the postcode and main man are the same, Bar Brasso is a different fish.
Continuing the legacy of its former life as Darby’s Next Door, mornings start with bagels, bakes, and coffee. By lunchtime, it's cafe fare. From 5pm, the transformation is complete: Bar Brasso becomes a tapas bar serving a scatter of small plates that encourage lingering.
Prosciutto Nero, aged to an impressive 40 months, sets the tone: deeply savoury, silky, funky and unapologetically indulgent. The bombette – Puglian pork sausage parcels swaddled in a thick strip of fatty prosciutto – are superb, the kind of rich, meaty mouthfuls that demand a second round of Negronis (which, by the way, are just £5 from 5-7pm).
The same is true of the ‘Bourdain toastie’, which is essentially drunk food on Class As: mortadella, Ogleshield, and Fontina cheese singed on the plancha, packed into fresh butter-brushed ciabatta, and finished with a swipe of prickly dijonnaise. It’s different to Bourdain’s own recipe, but much like the original, Gill’s too is a ‘beloved heap of oozing awesomeness’.
Mounds of silky Gorgonzola dolce, thin slivers of beautiful finocchiona, and lardo-dusted Koffmann crisps speak to a confident, produce-led approach. If you save room, there’s a dense, dark, 70% chocolate mousse. Balanced by a drizzle of fruity balsamic, it’s transmuted by a few grains of salt into something genius: sweet, savoury, wholly gratifying.
It’s a welcome reminder that simplicity, done well, still impresses. That said, Bar Brasso isn’t a destination for a full meal; it’s a bolthole made for grazing, lingering conversations, and spontaneous, easy evenings - all those things that can’t be built into a blueprint.