Make a beeline for Brixton to share some temptingly priced Japanese fusion cooking at Mastchef winner Tim Anderson’s new restaurant, Nanban…
Serving ‘Japanese soul food’ in buzzing Brixton, Nanban offers a one-page menu of big or small plates that are ideal for sharing and won’t break the bank. The dishes draw on the ‘nanban’ tradition of European-influenced Japanese cooking, so alongside ramen and gyoza, expect crowd-pleasing curries and burgers. Ingredients from Brixton market take centre stage, and the daily salad – steamed cavolo nero with crunchy garlic chips drenched in ponzu butter – was a revelation. Anderson makes inexpensive ingredients sing, and his horumonyaki is a masterpiece: twice-cooked pig’s tripe in a spicy miso sauce balanced by bean sprouts, pickled radish and nira (garlic chives). Try also the mentaiko pasta, a bang-on-trend Italian fusion dish created in Tokyo: spaghetti coated in a spicy cod roe sauce, with Parmesan, pancetta and aonori seaweed, topped with a slow-cooked onsen egg (think Japanese spaghetti carbonara). There are no puds, but the thoughtfully compiled drinks list includes saké, shochu and small-batch craft beers. Service is helpful and attentive. Our only gripe concerns the high-ceilinged first-floor dining room, which feels Spartan with its back-to-basics furniture. Try to bag the prime window seat on the cosier ground floor.
This article was published 8 October 2015