Brat, London: ‘The culinary equivalent of an Anthony Hopkins performance’ – restaurant review

Some of the dishes Tomos Parry cooks at Brat are simplicity itself, and some are simply perfect

Brat, 4 Redchurch Street, London E1 6JL (bratrestaurant.com). Meal for two, including drinks and service, £80-£120

There’s a glossy kind of over-engineered food television which, whatever its other virtues, provides a brilliant workout for my throwing arm. It’s the cooking demo stuff, narrated by a restaurant chef who insists upon peppering every stage of the process with the word “simply”. Now “simply bone out the entire chicken” or “simply make a brioche dough” or “simply carve a representation of the fall of Saigon out of chilled dripping as a table centrepiece”. While it would be unfair to name the guilty (Gary Rhodes, I’m looking at you for starters), I’m not ashamed to admit it has me reaching for the nearest piece of soft fruit. My aim is getting pretty good.