Brawn

Brawn sits just off Hackney Road toward Columbia Road, and it’s built the same way its sister restaurant Terroirs is — around a natural-wine list of cult small-grower producers, with the food built to match it rather than lead it.

Ed Wilson’s cooking here has always had a slightly quieter reputation than the wine list it sits alongside, which does the kitchen a disservice — this is genuinely accomplished, produce-led Mediterranean and modern European cooking, built by people who clearly understand that a serious wine list needs food that can actually stand up to it rather than defer to it. This review makes the case for the kitchen on its own terms, wine list aside.

The Room

A relaxed, neighbourhood-favourite room, unshowy and genuinely local — bare tables, close seating, the kind of unfussy decor that signals the money and attention went into the cellar rather than the fit-out. It sits in the residential stretch between Hackney Road and Columbia Road rather than on either of the area’s more obviously commercial strips, which means it draws a crowd that’s mostly there deliberately rather than passing trade.

The pace is unhurried without being slow — service moves at the speed of a proper long dinner, not a fast turnover. It’s the kind of dining room built to be returned to often rather than visited once for the novelty of it.

What to Order

Pork-focused charcuterie and terrines make the most sense to start, house-made rather than bought in, and a fair indication of how seriously the kitchen takes the slower, more technical end of the menu.

The main event is whatever whole roast dish is being shared that night, chosen to reflect the season rather than repeated out of habit — duck liver or crab in winter, gazpacho or artichoke in summer — and ordering it for the table rather than individually is very much the intended way to eat here.

The kitchen changes the specifics often enough that returning regulars rarely get the exact same dish twice in a season, which keeps the format from ever feeling routine. Asking the staff what’s best that night, rather than working strictly off the printed menu, tends to produce the better meal.

The Drinks List

The reason regulars keep coming back — a genuinely deep, well-chosen natural-wine list built around small growers rather than recognisable labels, curated with the same seriousness Terroirs is known for. Staff are knowledgeable without being precious about it, happy to steer a table toward something unfamiliar rather than defaulting to the safest bottle on the page, and the by-the-glass selection changes often enough to reward asking what’s currently open.

A table happy to hand the decision entirely to the staff tends to end up drinking better than one working strictly off the printed list.

What You Will Pay

Around £45–55 per person, which for the depth of the wine list alongside genuinely considered cooking is fair rather than a bargain — you’re not overpaying for the room, but you are paying for a cellar that’s clearly been assembled with real care rather than bought in bulk from a single importer.

The Verdict

Order to share, and let the wine list do most of the deciding — this isn’t a restaurant for someone who wants to order individually and drink a single glass of house white. Go with people willing to split several small plates and a bottle or two across the table, and trust the staff’s steer on both. Its four-star rating would likely be higher if the kitchen got half the attention the cellar does.

What’s Being Said

A wine list this considered usually comes with prices to match — here, it doesn’t, and that gap between ambition and cost is exactly what’s kept this corner of East London coming back for it rather than treating it as an occasional splurge. The cooking gets less attention than the cellar does, which is a shame, because it’s good enough to be the actual reason to book even before the wine list enters the conversation.

Order as though the food matters as much as the bottle you’ve chosen, and it will.