The chef Tomos Parry, best known for leading the kitchens at Michelin-starred Brat, has announced that he and his team are to open a new restaurant in Soho this summer.
Called Mountain, the opening will take over what was once a Byron Burger on Beak Street, and is expected to launch in June. Parry says Londoners can expect a wood grill and wine bar, which will combine a Spanish influence and his Welsh heritage, putting it as so: “Mountain draws on the 'mar y montana' (or sea and hillside) cooking of Spain, alongside the seas and mountains within the Welsh landscape.”
The grill will use the same approach that has made both the original Brat and its sister in Climpson's Arch a success, namely cooking over charcoal grills, though Parry says he has been “working on new fire cooking techniques” that will debut at Beak Street. Both Brats will be unaffected by the new opening.
Dishes will include whole pink bream, lamb chops and lobster in a caldereta braise — a Menorcan speciality — as well as wood-fired rice and smoked potatoes. “Caldereta, amongst others on the menu is the type of food I find hugely transportive and deeply satisfying to eat,” Parry explains, adding: “the Welsh landscape will meanwhile be present on the menu in a few ways, and I’ve enjoyed building relationships with producers, growers and fishermen to bring in more beautiful shellfish and seaweeds directly from west Wales and Anglesey.”
There will also two types of the Spanish cured sausage Sobrasada offered as snacks, made for the restaurant by an organic farm in Mallorca, which will come either just with butter or charred and plated with honey. Puddings will include ensaimadas and an almond tart.
Parry says the restaurant will offer a relaxed, unwound feel, and will encourage a sense of liveliness. “The ground floor is a similar sized dining room to Brat where I would imagine meeting friends in the middle of Soho, drinking vermouth on the bar and eating small market style dishes of Sobrasada and sweetbreads,” the chef told the Standard. “I’ve always loved walking by the windows of Soho restaurant institutions, catching glimpses of tables which began at lunch and are now threatening to roll into dinner. I can’t wait for guests to eat these dishes and share in these moments watching the world go past.”
I’ve always loved walking by the windows of Soho institutions, catching glimpses of tables which began at lunch and are now threatening to roll into dinner
Downstairs from the ground floor restaurant will be a bar filled with records and serving classic cocktails alongside vermouths, and the same wine available across the restaurant, which are supplied by Keeling and Andrew, best known as the duo behind Noble Rot. Parry says he hopes it will be a thronging spot, saying: “I’m hoping we can create an exciting and buzzy bar downstairs, where we will be playing vinyl and guests can explore extensive and interesting drinks while seeing dishes coming out. The downstairs will feature a couple of my favourite ways of enjoying a restaurant — sitting in small booths or bar seating.”
