When searching for a restaurant, a few criteria come to mind: the atmosphere, the quality of food, the service. Of course, all elements combined make for a brilliant outing (and a go-to recommendation on my blog). But. What if I told you that there’s a new element to be added to those above, which will make you feel better as a food lover? As a consumer? As a person?
I discovered a place in central London offering ethical and sustainable cooking. Yes. It’s about time food and ethics are linked. We certainly are getting more concerned about ethical shopping, so why not consider conscious food when looking for a place to eat?
Today, DOYOUSPEAKLONDON invites you to Native at Browns, a secret place to feel and eat better!

Native at Browns, Mayfair

Native at Browns is the new restaurant located in luxury retailer Browns flagship store on Brook Street, Mayfair.

You might be surprised to find this common white door while looking for the restaurant, but I loved the idea of some mystery and it only increased my curiosity about the venue!

The restaurant’s sustainable setting embodies an artisanal, handmade spirit throughout and celebrates traditional craftsmanship. The owners

Native was created by Ivan & Imogen, who both “have a strong passion in foraging and growing their ingredients to get the best of what nature has to give.”

While we ate inside that evening, there is also an alfresco option for warmer and sunnier seasons: Native at Browns Courtyard, which is said to have a gorgeous setting. Something to look forward to when I’ll come back…

Innovative tasting menu at Native at Browns

This is the most impressive thing about this place: whilst having strong ethical values that imply seasonal and sustainable produce, the restaurant manages to create small plates of innovative cooking!

Before even tasting the food, we ordered delicious “foraged cocktails” prepared by a very skilled woman (I could not help but feel happy to see a woman excelling in this field). Apple and sage mix very well indeed, and this drink was a promising start to the whole experience…

I have to specify here that I was accompanied by 3 very curious friends and we all decided to order different dishes so that we could see and taste the whole range of options on the seasonal tasting menu.

Here come the starters, which are called the Chef’s wasting snacks, a “selection of zero waste snacks, made from what many would consider waste but to us is a product in its own right”. And look at the plates below, these non-compliant products were definitely worth it!

The smell of tomatoes was incredible here, and the cracker was exquisite with it!

This was absolutely divine. Just a few bites, though. Could have eaten a second one. Or two! But we had to keep some space left for the rest…

I LOVED these little portions, with this crafty presentation…and the crab flavour was awesome!

Then onto menu dishes, we had…

I had just a bite of this dish, but it was said to be scrumptious…

This was my order and I loved how the meat was cooked, the little sauces to accompany it, and the rest was simply freshly delicious.

Again, not my personal choice but I had a try of a horse mackerel: so tasty!

This vegetarian dish was far from simplistic despite its simple ingredients: the mix of flavours was perfect as well as the dressing!

Looking good, tasting good!

This was my personal choice and I enjoyed it until the last bite! The mix of textures was awesome with the softness of the fish and the crispy topping… I’m feeling peckish now, aren’t you?

Last but not least came the desserts…

This dessert was clearly indecent after one cocktail and a few glasses of wine, but it came as the perfect ending to this amazing tasting menu!

The ants were an unusual addition to the sorbet, but unexpectedly good and certainly the most original ingredient of this menu! And who said ants were disgusting? I actually didn’t notice a bad taste, but the crunchiness went very well with the butter tuile.

There’s still one dessert I haven’t tried, which is the venue’s speciality: the Marrowmel dessert, white chocolate and bone marrow caramel. Very special indeed, but why not try as I’ve been seduced by everything else on my plate that night? Who takes the plunge with me?

This tasting menu is not cheap but we ended up completely full and thrilled to have tasted scrumptious dishes. This was quite impressive to see that ethical cooking also rhymes with quality and originality. I would highly recommend eating Native at Brown on a special occasion.

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To go further:
Native at Browns: 39 Brook Street, London W1K 4AH
Website
Native Produce Store website

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