The charcoal grill doing God's work at Ibai
What do we need to know about Ibai?
If you've been craving a trip to San Sebastian then the arrival of Ibai in London is really going to be of interest to you.
The trio of folk behind it are Nemanja Borjanovic, Will Sheard and Richard Foster. Nemanja is the man suppling Galician and top British beef to London restaurants as well as the co-owner of Lurra and Donostia. Will is ex-Majestic Wine and now supplies wine to London's best spots. And finally chef Richard headed up the kitchen at Chiltern Firehouse for a decade. All in all it's a team who know what they're doing.
Where is it?
You'll find it on the marvellously named Little Britain, just off Smithfield Market. It's a street that pops up in Great Expectations but is now a mix of rather soulless office buildings and the odd industrial space like this former carpet warehouse. You may remember it in from the previous restaurant here which was Lino. The nearest tubes are Farringdon and Barbican.
Where's a good place to meet for a drink first?
You're not short of good watering holes nearby - our picks would be the Three Compasses (the pub underneath Bouchon Racine), the bar at St John (which is where we went before dinner here) or 56 wine bar which is just down the same road.
Where should we sit?
This is a big restaurant, but they've designed it cunningly so it's full of cosy corner tables and booths. There's some counter dining by the windows too if you just fancy coming in for a solo drink and dish. And there are also two private dining rooms seating 13, which can also be combined to make one big room.
From here you can see how they've divided the room up...
So what kind of food are we talking about?
Ibai is billed as a Basque steak restaurant. And given Nemanja's meat business, you can be sure the steak is going to be amazing here. But there are also plenty of dishes from both the French and Spanish Basque regions here to try if you're not in the mood for red meat.
Here are the highlights of our dinner there to give you a flavour:
Carabinero tartare (£16 or £29 with Oscietra caviar) - a dish letting those perfect raw ingredients speak for themselves
Croque Ibai (£16) the one thing to choose if you have nothing else. A god-tier toastie with carabinero, boudin noir and Tomme de Brebis cheese topped with Miel Rayon d’Or raw honey from the Eastern Pyrenees. One of our best dishes of 2024 so far.
King Crab Rice (£85) - apparently the bisque this is cooked in takes six hours to reduce to this intensity.
As it's the key dish, at least one of your party is going to want the steak. When we went there were three options - Spanish Black Angus and Galician Blond. Of those there are either T-bone, sirloin or rib or you could opt for a Norfolk Wagyu, with a choice of rib, sirloin or fillet.
Galician Blond rib - a superb piece of steak cooked lovingly on their charcoal grill. You'll need their amazing tomato salad to go with this.
Anything at all for vegetarians?
Actually yes - there's a main of charred cauliflower served up with Ossau-Iraty cheese, hazlenuts and parsley, plus we loved this starter.
Tender peas & broad beans with black truffle (£14)
Room for dessert?
Surprisingly, given all we'd had, we did manage not one but two desserts, both of which were excellent.
Gâteau Basque (£10) - a traditional French Basque dessert, served with summer berries
Pain perdu with hazelnuts and rum (£10) - ah, now we see why our jeans are feeling tight this month...
What about the wine?
As you can imagine when one of your founders has been in the wine trade forever, the wine offering is going to be great. Head sommelier Hugh Jones has been hard at work building quite the wine list. "Focusing on the Old World we attempt to offer wines of all styles at each price point in their optimum drinking window," is what they told us.
Overall thoughts
If you're wondering how to fill a pretty cavernous dining room hidden down the back streets of the City on a Tuesday night, then the answer is to serve up amazing Basque food. The place was incredibly busy when we tipped up and we can see why. Word of mouth is clearly working, that if you're in the market for great steak, interesting wine and a good time, then Ibai is the place for you.
More about Ibai
Where is it? 92 Bartholomew Cl, London EC1A 7BN
Find out more: Visit their website or follow them on Instagram @ibai_london
Hot Dinners dined as guests of Ibai. Prices correct at time of publication.
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