So many people had recommended ‘Naughty Piglets’ in Brixton to me. They said I’d love it – lots of tasty small plates and a great selection of wines and beers. Brixton is also fairly close to where we live, so one Friday evening a few weeks ago, Tim and I decided to give it a try. It’s a very popular place and seeing as we’d left it fairly last minute, we could only get a table for 6.30pm, but that wasn’t really a problem. You can book to sit in either the bar or restaurant, so we’d booked the latter.
Naughty Piglets is a new addition to the Brixton restaurant scene. With rents in central Brixton becoming increasingly unaffordable for independent start-up businesses, Naughty Piglets, like the Shrub and Shutter we reviewed a short while ago, has gone for a ‘secondary’ location, this time in Brixton Water Lane, opposite the Hootananny.
The restaurant is small, with around 30 covers, including some seats at the bar; it has been converted in a tasteful but rustic style with lots of pine, simple furnishings and the requisite filament light bulbs. They have a curt and daily changing menu (heavily inspired by Sharratt’s stint at Primeur) and many of the dishes are cooked using a charcoal grill. The food has European and Mediterranean roots, coupled with some far eastern and particularly Japanese influence. Unsurprisingly, given Aubry’s background, the wine list is carefully chosen and focuses on low-intervention wines, with many natural and organic options. We enjoyed our Gamay Noir although the mark-up was rather heavy – we paid £28 for a bottle that retails at close to £5 so I would recommend a bit of research before you choose.
Had wanted to try this new local eatery after reading great reviews and failing to get a table on a couple of previous attempts decided an impromptu walk-in on a Tuesday night might prove more successful. Only luckily we snagged a final table, showing how popular the venue has become in a short space of time. A cosy space, our hostess was most welcoming and we felt the ambiance very relaxed yet professional. The food was on par and exceptionally good quality with fresh and seasonal ingredients and cooked to perfection. We will certainly be returning, if only we could be assured of a table. We feel this might become increasingly difficult.
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New openings in Brixton are fairly frequent, and there’s certainly no shortage of lovely places to eat. I have several favourites depending on the circumstances, but Naughty Piglets may have just leapt very close to the top of the list.
Opened a couple of weeks ago by Margaux Aubrey of Covent Garden’s Terroirs and Joe Sharratt, ex head chef of Trinity in Clapham, it already had a head start. They’ve got a long, skinny site opposite the Hootenanny on Brixton Water Lane with a small bar and kitchen at the front with a few tables, and a larger dining room at the back. The tables are chunky, pale wood, the napkins are thick white linen and the wine list is epic. It still feels nicely casual though (in the front anyway)and the smells of seafood, herbs and garlic makes it feel like you’re on holiday – a nice change from the hustle and bustle of the market.
Margaux greeted us and was friendly and chatty, moving a booking so we could sit at one of the tables in the bar. They have a relatively short menu consisting of a few small plates in the £5-7 range, and a couple of larger dishes for around £15. It’s on the wall on a blackboard and changes daily and also throughout the day. There are also specials that aren’t written up, so it has a feel of a little Spanish or Italian café that just serves whatever happens to be fresh and delicious.
We ordered five small dishes to share, which were all delightful. Burrata was first on my list as it’s probably one of my favourite things – a whole wet, creamy ball of cheese all to myself, I can’t think of anything better, especially served as Naughty Piglets do; with a sprinkling of sea salt flakes, lightly fried courgettes and toasted pine nuts for texture, the olive oil and warmth a lovely contrast to the light, creamy cheese.
Next up was a bowl of chestnut mushrooms with crème fraiche – innocuous-sounding enough, but they were perfectly cooked, i.e. not soggy and swimming in grey juice, but with a bit of bite still. They were drenched in a gorgeous olive oil and had a feint tang of balsamic. Lovely.
Mussels were fat and juicy with a lovely garlicky, winey sauce to mop up with bread (Ian’s favourite), and huge prawns were served in their shells, drenched in garlic butter. We also went for the grilled sardines with gremolata, which with a squeeze of lemon tasted just like a recent holiday on the French coast.
I washed this all down with a cold glass of a French white – I wish I could remember what it was but it was a special and the name escapes me.
The bill was about £40 for two, including service – reasonable for such great quality in my opinion. I’d book in the evening as it will certainly be regularly packed.
Wow! The most perfect meal I think I've ever eaten. Seriously. Incredibly fresh, mouth wateringly delicious, simple but perfectly judged, clever cooking. For starters- juicy scallops lightly seared with lemon and garlic, the freshest squid in the lightest crispy batter, and grilled prawns with garlic and aioli. Then perfectly cooked pork belly with Korean spices , and monk fish with a bean and cucumber side - all truly delicious. Finally, a very light chocolate mouse with a chocolate /almond brittle piece, and almond crumble with coffees. Service was friendly, polite and unstuffy. There is a great wine list but we had a superb, and very reasonable house wine. The surroundings are well designed and inviting. It was lunchtime and quiet but its only been open three days and was very busy when I tried to book for the evening. My friend paid ( lucky me! ) but the prices look very reasonable, from £4.00 -£22. The only warning is , it is all so perfect, you will want more and more dishes. Go!
Amazing atmosphere in a very cute and comfortable decorative wooden setting and books on a shelf. Divided into two areas, one near the kitchen and on the bar side very bright and welcoming, the other more private inside. Absolutely fantastic and well balanced dishes to share. Kind and attentive service to our availability.
Had an amazing dinner for my partner’s birthday. The ham croquettes were out of this world. Everything was delicious, the service was amazing. We only had wine by the glass but they have more than a 100 wines available!! Will definitely come back.
As always, great mix of small plates. nice selection of wines. Relaxed and friendly service.
Very nice place with very nice staff. We loved every single dish :)
Big fan of every single dish I had here! Staff super friendly and give great advice on quantities and wine.
Omg!! What a hidden gem in Brixton!!! Something to note - I thought that the restaurant was bar seating only which puts me off a bit (personally). If you feel the same? You will be pleased to know that there is dining tables behind the bar in a separate room.
Services was super warm and friendly, I loved that the menu was on a chalk board, giving it that homely, rustic energy. Food was fabulous and really well priced!
Would definitely go back and recommend this to a mate! (@diningnotdashing)
Came in for a last minute walk in and the staff sorted us out straight away. Sat at the bar where the chef took time to talk us through ingredients and flavours. Everything we tried was beautifully balanced with flavour and looked extremely pretty . I'll happily pay every penny again for the passion and detail both the chefs and staff put into this place .
Great skin contact wine too .
I almost don’t want to rave about this place as it is already hugely successful and we don’t want anyone else to know how good it is for fear we can’t get a booking. BUT, this place is AMAZING! The staff are pleasant, helpful and genuinely lovely people. The ambience is close, friendly and chill - almost the best part about this place is it’s not pretentious! The food…oh wow… the food was some of the best food we’ve ever had! The flavours are out of this world and considering the head chef can’t taste half the food (allergies), we were blown away by her creativeness and passion for combining foods that just work! We sat at the bar and we’re so glad we did and the staff made the whole experience even better as they clearly loved what they do. Oh well, guess I failed as not raving about this place, but it’s hard not to when there is nothing to complain about and the food and service was exceptional. We can’t wait to go back!
What an awesome meal 🤤
+ Great atmosphere
+ On point team
+ Food was fantastic, really unique flavours and pairings
+ Wine was brilliant and some great recommendations
- The place did get very busy and the meal was almost 3 hours. Heard a few tables complain but as we weren’t in a rush we enjoyed it
Would 100% go back.
Huge Natural wine selection, the food is spectacular, especially the dessert, the cocktails are made in batches so not to my liking, tiny cocktail with little alcohol for £12 not worth it. They did add shot of gin when I complained which made it better. The service very attentive, relaxed and engaging. Will definitely go back
What a find! Great selection of small dishes to share. We was looked after by a very nice lady called Maya. Recommend the eels dish it was devine.
Thanks Maya for a fantastic dinner!
Book ahead, this place gets busy. Why? Check out my pictures :) Really interesting and well executed dishes I am unassuming and relaxed setting. Very good wine list (had the best Riesling of my life here) and super friendly but subtle service. Check it out!
We had a lovely evening here. It was nice to discover the different wines that they had. We shared 10 items off the menu (as suggested by our waiter for 4 people). Highlight was definitely the oyster mushrooms and the lamb. Great variety of flavours but all of the items were quite small so even after the hefty bill we were contemplating some more food not long after. Possibly a little overpriced.
Some very good dishes: smoked eel and golden beetroot was a particular highlight, and the burrata with a deconstructed puttanesca was delicious. Some a bit less exciting - watermelon and feta, and BBQ pork belly, were both a bit bland, although the prices (£6 and £12) weren't bad. Cheapest bottle of wine was £21 which was also pretty good value.
I disliked the lack of any drinks menu - you have to listen to the waiter telling you about each wine, and they only tell you the prices if you ask, which is needlessly awkward and a bit pretentious. Ours also seemed not to know the prices so had to check them with a guy at the bar when we asked. Also had to wait on stools outside for 15 mins when we arrived which was a bit annoying given we had a reservation. Good place overall but has its flaws.
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