Goodness me. Out of all the restaurants we visited in London, there was only one that truly won the Michele seal of approval. It's a very prestigious award indeed. Not even Salon (which I honestly thought was perfect) could even get a half-hearted shrug from the man. The restaurant that finally thawed the disdain? Naughty Piglets in Brixton. Disappointingly, we only visited the once during our short sojourn in London but when we move back again in the summer, I know where I'm dragging my fussy Mr...
Name/Address: Naughty Piglets, 28 Brixton Water Lane, Brixton

Nearest tube station: Brixton

What's the idea?: Seasonal and creative cooking with a menu that retains some of the same dishes whilst the specific ingredients used evolve throughout the seasons

First impressions: Tiny little place that's probably way too cool for me; thank goodness they're hiding us in the back room.


What we ate: Naughty Piglets works around the basis of sharing dishes. This isn't to say that the portions are huge and you need two people to finish them off - they're all small plates, but the idea is that you put together a selection of 2-3 dishes (per person) that are then brought out to the table one by one. This means you get to try double the amount of things you would normally - hooray! We started with the burrata puttanesca, (a creamy, salty ball of cheese that sat in a richly sweet and spicy tomato sauce), followed by grilled pear, Jerusalem artichokes, blue cheese and hazelnuts (a medley of flavours and textures that were all balanced well - one of Michele's main gripes with Salon was that certain flavours completely overpowered milder tastes, particularly in a dish very similar to this one)...

 then Devon crab, peanut and pickled spinach (light, fresh, zingy), and finally smoked eel, rhubarb, ginger and coriander (the dish I was most weary of - who wants to eat eel? - but turned out to be my favourite; my goodness, this was fantastic! The smoked eel was exquisite - I haven't tasted anything so perfectly smoked in my life). We finished with the desserts on offer - a creamy panna cotta with rhubarb, and a wonderful chocolate concoction.

What we thought: Michele finally conceded that there is good food in Britain.


The important stuff - what were the loos like?: Hidden away downstairs by a cool cave-like bar area.
Do they take bookings?: Yes.

What I'd say to a friend: Best food we had in London, go, go, go! (And take me with you).