Brat (*) – Shoreditch, London

Went to Brat in Shoreditch with my husband. Not pictured: big open kitchen, mostly very small wooden tables and chairs, bar seating, overall kind of a high end neighborhood joint vibe – it's upstairs, so a little bit removed from the hustle and bustle below. Very much grilled meat and seafood focused with a bit of a basque/Spanish flare. Everything is a la carte, no tasting menu. More relaxed vibe, more casual than other Michelin starred places I've been.

Dishes:
Soused mackerel – delicious, small toast with chunks of lightly pickled mackerel, whipped ricotta, and thinly sliced onions (possibly also lightly pickled). Could have made a meal out of these.

Failed to take a picture of the monkfish starter, but it was also really tasty. Very simply pan sauteed, in a sauce made with fish roe of some kind, grilled onion, and a bit of chard. Another one I would have happily made into a whole meal – weirdly the grilled onion and the sauce were the stand outs matching the umami/slight saltiness of the sauce with the almost caramelized sweetness of the onion.

Mains were sirloin and John Dory roasted whole. Preparations were very simple, no sauces, just extremely well prepared fish and steak. The steak had a perfect level of saltiness to balance out the fattiness of the cut, cooked to a nice medium-medium rare. John Dory was light but still enough to be a main and shine on its own. I struggled a bit to properly remove the meat from the spine, but that was more of an I'm-bad-at-cutting-things thing than any fault of the restaurant (staff demonstrates how to remove the filets using a spoon).

Side was smoked potatoes. Very buttery, topped with chives. Can't say anything bad about them, love a good potato.

Dessert – burnt basque cheesecake with rhubarb and a cows milk cheese (St John) with apple butter and a homemade flatbread cracker. Cheesecake is made fresh daily, and was velvety in texture but retained notes of the cheese they'd used for the batter. Rhubarb was poached and provided a nice acidic/fruity punch to cut through the richness of the cheesecake. The cows milk cheese had more flavor than I was expecting, went nicely with the apple butter and the sesame seeds on the flatbread. All in all a very satisfying end to a tasty dinner.

Not pictured: the gimlet I had, and husband's amaro and soda – this one was on tap and apparently made for the restaurant.

Service was excellent, greatly enjoyed watching the kitchen work, and the other dishes ordered by fellow diners also looked delicious. Would definitely come back.