As a sign that you can't keep a good chef down, mere months after closing the doors of his Islington restaurant, James Cochran is coming back to N1 with a new venture. This time he's teaming up with pub folk the Seven-Eighths Group, who run The Hemingway in Victoria Park and Hunter S in nearby De Beauvoir, to open The Brave on Essex Road.
It's the second pub on the road promising something a bit different to the traditional boozer to open in quick succession. First we had wine pub Godet, and now The Brave is being described as a bistro pub.
Some of the dishes will be a treat to those who loved Cochran's food at 12:51 like the Jerk spiced chicken Scotch egg with Scotch bonnet jam which is a riff on the popular jerk fried chicken that he served there. There are also a lot of frankly fantastic-sounding dishes coming out of the kitchen when it opens including:
- Scottish razor clam ceviche, quince, bacon, pine nut
- Whitstable rock oyster, smoked bone marrow vinaigrette, dill
- Coal-roasted Harrietsham leeks, confit onion, truffle hollandaise
- Potato dumplings, slow braised shin of beef, hay emulsion, Montgomery cheddar, beef gravy
If you're keen to pop down and have a pint and some bar snacks even those snacks sound like they're going to be winners. They range from hash browns served with chip shop curry sauce, scraps and malt vinegar to the Guinness and cheese toastie with bread & butter pickles. Plus there's a sharing dish using venison from The Ledbury's Brett Graham's farm which features roast haunch of Aynhoe venison, venison sausage, slow braised venison pie, neep & tattie hash browns, xo sauce, grilled hispi cabbage, roast onions and chicory salad.
"We’re creating something really special here at The Brave," says James. "Given all the love we received from locals when we closed 12:51 this summer, it was a no-brainer for me to open something five minutes down the road."
More about The Brave
Where is it? 340-342 Essex Road, London N1 3PB
When does it open? The pub is open now, with James's menu starting in early December.
Find out more: Follow them on Instagram @thebravelondon
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