Brigadiers

The headlining act of the Bloomberg Arcade, Brigadiers is the hotly anticipated new restaurant from JKS, aka siblings Jyotin, Karam and Sunaina Sethi, who have a Midas touch for whatever they choose to invest in (Lyle’s, Sabor, Bao, Bubbledogs) or front themselves (Hoppers, Trishna, Gymkhana – and now Brigadiers).  

Brigadiers is an Indian barbecue restaurant and sports bar, pitched in mood midway between the cheap thrills of Hoppers and the Mayfair flash of Gymkhana (prices, however, are definitely more Gymkhana). And like all the Sethis’ projects, it is precision-tuned to the location.

Here in the City that means two bars, three private rooms, a pool room with a self-service whisky dispenser, plus TVs locked to Sky Sports. The inspiration is apparently the army mess bars of India, although it may as well be the fantasy of a teenage boy.

Except this being JKS, the food and drinks are far more sophisticated than that. The long menu is tailor-made for sharing in groups, not least because you’ll want to order as much as possible from the half-dozen sections, from ‘beer snacks’ and ‘sizzlers and kebabs’ to ‘steak, ribs and chops’ and ‘rotisserie and wood oven’.

There are two show-stopping must-orders. Beef chuck bone-marrow keema, sloppy and slippery, is scooped up with chilli-cheese kulcha, which taste like a stuffed pizza crust. We also put these to good use chasing the sauce left over from barbecue butter chicken wings, smeared with ghee and cashew cream like sublime, softly flavoured satay.

Other highlights included the flavour riot of masala chicken skins with lime pickle, and from the more substantial end of the menu, rib-eye steak beautifully spiced in a dry tandoori masala. Lettuce dressed in yoghurt and mint provided fresh relief.

To drink, there are lagers and stouts on tap, cocktails on draught, and 15 wines by the glass from a global list that quickly ascends past the £40 mark all the way to a pay-cheque blowing fine wine selection that, for once, doesn’t focus on Bordeaux and Burgundy – like everything else in this raucous newcomer, a hot blast of fun for City dining, especially if you’ve a glass in hand on the terrace when the sun hits at 5pm.   

From JKS Restaurants, the group behind London favourites such as Gymkhana and Trishna, Brigadiers is an Indian barbecue restaurant and drinking tavern, which features two designated bars - Blighters and The Tap Room - as well as a whisky vending machine (yes, that’s a real thing), on-tap cocktails, Champagne and punch fountains, and one of the quickest pour pints in the City via fast-pour, self-serve beer taps. The restaurant is inspired by the army mess bars of India, where military regiments went to drink and socialise, and boasts a large space featuring 140 covers inside, plus a further 28 on the outdoor terrace. 

If that isn’t enough to pique your interest, then the extensive menu of barbecued Indian dishes should do the trick. The menu is divided into sections, ranging from ‘beer snacks and bitings’ through to ‘steaks, ribs and chops’, with ‘chhota chatpata’ and ‘anda, rolls, bun kebab, pao’ in between.

Dishes that you can expect to find include the likes of chaat masala pork scratchings, a dry Tandoori masala beef rib-eye steak, and a tawa masala lobster and shrimp kati roll. On Sundays, guests can tuck into Indian-inspired roasts, served from noon until 8pm. If you’re in a large group, you might want to order the whole kid lamb biryani, which is placed in the centre of the table alongside trimmings including achari masala roast potatoes, malai palak corn, and chutneys and pickles.

There’s also a wraparound terrace which is perfect for alfresco dining during the summer season. Able to seat up to 34 guests at a time, the terrace features on-tap beer and Prosecco, alongside a selection of cocktails. A menu of snacks meanwhile includes the likes of ox cheek vindaloo samosas, achari chicken skins and lotus roots and puffs chaat.

While Brigadiers is primarily a restaurant, it also acts as a sports bar, screening many of the major sporting fixtures such as the Six Nations and the World Cup.