Nestled into a fold of rolling Somerset countryside, a few miles from the art-gasto hotbed of Bruton, Osip v.2 – the feverishly anticipated new opening from chef Merlin Labron-Johnson – is a consummate place to take in the late changing seasons. It’s one of those crunchy autumn days; mizzle descending, wafts of fragrant woodsmoke curling from an alfresco cast-iron burner outside a handsome whitewashed old pile, bustling activity and twinkling lights within. An achingly winsome scene, even without the giddy epicurean context.
But giddy it is. Osip v.2 is the definitive phase of a project that began on Bruton’s high street in 2019. A tiny, design-mag bolthole with a lyrical Modern British menu in thrall to the seasons and bounties of the surrounding area, Osip v.1 quickly became a lynchpin for the field-to-plate boom and a vehicle for Labron-Johnson’s rising star (he made his name at Portland and Clipstone in London, before decamping to the sticks).
