The beautiful dining room at Brunswick House
What do we need to know about Brunswick House?
This is the restaurant opened by Jackson Boxer in Brunswick House. It's part of a Grade ll Georgian mansion, built for the Duke of Brunswick in 1758. More recently it was saved from crumbling into ruin by architectural salvage firm Lassco and opened as a restaurant by Jackson in 2010.
Where is it?
You'll find the ivy-covered building huddling in the shadows of all the skyscrapers on Vauxhall roundabout - it's just a minute's walk from Vauxhall tube and train station.
The beautiful Grade II listed building with a backdrop of skyscrapers
And you're going there now because...?
Truth be told we've been into Brunswick House countless times for drinks, snacks and the odd small plate, but we'd never actually had a full-blown meal here. When a plan to try Jackson's new restaurant at Selfridges had a temporary spanner thrown in the works, it seemed like an idea to come here instead.
What's the set-up?
If you're just coming (as we have been many times before) for a drink, there's both a decent-sized bar inside and a lovely covered terrace outside that somehow manages to block out the noise of the four-lane traffic.
Inside the place looks amazing - forget Sessions House, this is the OG, conceived of a year before Instagram blew up and changed everything. Lassco are responsible for all the glorious chandeliers you'll find hanging everywhere. As our waiter explained, when stuff gets sold, it's replaced with something new, so there's always some object of beauty or interest to catch the eye.
And the food?
They say that the menu is "based around exceptional British produce, sourced from small producers, farmers and fishermen throughout the Isles." Jackson's also gone on record as saying. "I used to spend a great deal of time worrying what people would want to eat. Then one day I simply decided instead to cook what I would want to eat. So now I just do that."
We chose a particularly good night to visit with the menu having just changed for the season. Here's what we had:
Pickles & Ferments (£6) - with another plate of pickled shiitake to the side as it had soy in its pickling and we were dining with a guest who was gluten and dairy-free. They were exceptionally good about working with her dietaries.
Devilled egg with trout roe and sesame (£3 each) - a particularly good devilled egg, and we consider ourselves experts...in eating them.
Chalkstream Trout Crudo, Green Tomato Apple & Jalapeno (£13)
Then came one of the signature dishes here at Brunswick House (another is the flatbread which we also tried and loved), beef with bone marrow (see below).
That marrow has been cured with sea salt and horseradish root, then cold smoked over hay, frozen, then shaved over the very lean, very concentrated, dry-aged raw beef. It's a great example of how good the food is here and the levels to which the kitchen is pushing itself.
Raw Dexter Beef, Smoked Bone Marrow & Crispy Shallot (£15)
Roast Chicken, Dorset Clams, Moqueca Broth, Jalapeno Pistou (£50) - a riot of flavours with the most intense Brazilian-inspired broth.
Room for dessert?
As we'd (mostly) skipped carbs we were 100% up for desserts and they did not disappoint. Coconut sorbet with a raspberry granita (£9) was a refreshing treat but slighly eclipsed by what followed:
Milk Cake, English Plums, Miso Chantilly (£12) - if miso chantilly isn't enough to make you want to get on a tube and order this dish right now, then maybe we can't be friends anymore.
And to drink?
Whether you're a complete wine nut, happy to drink pretty much anything, or are off the sauce entirely, the Brunswick House drinks list has something for you. We were impressed at the wide range of interesting softs and no-alcohol wines and spirits on offer.
Wine buffs can go to town on the 'Special Pours' section of the wine list or the bin end range. As for us, we were more than happy with our pick of the Keg wine, a Chardonnay from Craven in Stellenbosch which is served by the glass, carafe and full bottle.
Overall thoughts:
This was one of our meals of 2023 - right up there with the best of them. Some restaurants that look this good might rest on their laurels as far as the food goes, but Brunswick House is not among them. It's an inventive menu, cleverly realised by a strong kitchen team, supported by a faultless front-of-house operation with slick and engaging service.
Very, very highly recommended.
More about Brunswick House
Where is it?30 Wandsworth Rd, London SW8 2LG
Find out more: Visit their website or follow them on Instagram @muranolondon
Hot Dinners dined as guests of Brunswick House. Prices correct at time of publication.
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