Brawn on Columbia Road: what to order and when to go

Book a weekday table, and check the hours before you set off on a Sunday. Brawn is at 49 Columbia Road, E2 7RG, on the Shoreditch and Bethnal Green border, in a converted warehouse on the corner at the end of the road. There is no big sign. Look for the small notice on the door with the day’s menu.

What it is

Brawn calls itself a neighbourhood restaurant and bar, cooking seasonal food from local suppliers. The name nods to brawn, the cold pork cut, but it is not a butcher’s and the menu goes well beyond meat. Expect a daily-changing list with French and Italian influence, bookended with charcuterie and cheese, according to OAD. The room is C-shaped: a front room, and a back kitchen room where you can watch the chefs. OpenTable describes the layout, and The Infatuation calls it whitewashed, with a buzz.

A short history

Brawn opened in late 2010 and is a sibling of the wine bar Terroirs. Founder and chef-patron Ed Wilson previously worked at Terroirs. The Nudge says it won a Michelin Bib Gourmand within a year of opening. Today the Michelin Guide lists it as Traditional British, so call it Michelin-listed and a former Bib Gourmand rather than a current one. Hardens says Wilson has run it for 15 years and credits the wine list with helping push London towards natural and low-intervention bottles.

Brawn Store opened in 2020 and sells the restaurant’s food and wine list among other things. The sister venue is Sargasso in Margate.

What to order

The menu changes daily, so treat the following as a guide to the style rather than a promise. Brawn’s own sample dinner menu from September 2025 gives the shape of it:

• Snacks, £4.50 to £15: bread and butter £4.50, Nocellara olives £5, Parmesan fritters £10, Carlingford oysters £5 each, Cantabrian anchovies £15, Jambon de Bayonne £15.
• Starters, £16 to £19: pork and pistachio terrine with cornichons and mustard was £16.
• Mains, £20 to £36: maltagliati e fagioli £20, veal and porcini tagliatelle £23, grilled squid with boudin noir £32, brill £36.
• Desserts, £10 to £11: dark chocolate tart, olive oil cake.

OpenTable calls the pork and pistachio terrine and the Cantabrian anchovies fixtures. The Infatuation’s advice is to always order the pasta, and it also praises the salt cod fritters. It singles out a round of Carlingford oysters for date night.

On the drinks side, OpenTable says there are more than 300 natural wines, plus a blood orange margarita. Lescaves says the list favours European growers.

What it costs

Plan on small plates from £5 to £19 and mains of roughly £20 to £36. Hardens puts a typical meal at about £76 to £86 a head, and notes that service is 12.5%. Its à la carte figures are a starter at £17, a main at £28.50 and a pudding at £12. For groups of 10 to 20, a private-hire sheet mentions an £80 set lunch, Tuesday to Friday.

When to go, and booking

Brawn’s website lists lunch Tuesday to Saturday, 12:00 to 14:30, and dinner Monday to Saturday, 18:00 to 22:30. Times can vary, so check brawn.co or phone 020 7729 5692 before you go.

Sunday is the grey area. Brawn’s own site, OpenTable and TripAdvisor show no Sunday service, while Made in Shoreditch has it serving lunch from noon to 2.15pm. Do not rely on either: ring first.

Bookings go through OpenTable, and a credit card is required for every reservation. Cancel with under 24 hours’ notice and a fee may apply. The Infatuation tags Brawn as a walk-in option, but on market weekends booking is the sensible move. Dress is casual.

Columbia Road Flower Market runs every Sunday from 8am to 3pm and gets very crowded in the weeks before Christmas. The quietest slots are the first and last hours. A weekday lunch or dinner avoids all of it.

Getting there

There is no Tube station on Columbia Road. Hoxton Overground is roughly 10 minutes’ walk, with Shoreditch High Street a little further. From Liverpool Street it is a 20 to 25 minute walk north, and buses run along Hackney Road.

For after

The Royal Oak, 73 Columbia Road, E2 7RG, is a Grade II listed pub, just along the road. It has long been an early opener for market traders. Made in Shoreditch gives Sunday hours of noon to 10pm, with a roast and the kitchen going until 9pm. Check before you plan around it on any other day.