What’s the draw

Bloomberg Arcade’s list of food and drink credentials is quickly stacking up. From Homeslice to Koya and Bleecker, there isn’t a restaurant that’s not worth the visit here. The most recent recruit to join the ranks is Brigadiers, a cavernous British Raj-inspired barbecue restaurant and sports bar from the JKS Restaurants group – also behind Hoppers, Gymkhana and Trishna. With its pool room, flat screens and whisky vending machine, it’s a bit of a city boy playhouse, but book yourself into The Dining Room and you’ll avoid all that, mostly.

What to drink

Creative takes on classic cocktails are the name of the game here – think ginger and coriander seed soda in the dark and stormy, or masala spice mix in the all-day bloody mary. That said, a meal at Brigadiers means one thing: spicy heat, everywhere. The best way to let those flavours speak for themselves is by keeping the alcohol content down with the agreeable fruity ferment of Brigadiers’ mango shandy or a beer. We’d recommend the 4th Riffles, JKS Restaurants’ citrusy pale ale collaboration with Thornbridge Brewery.

What to eat

Brigadiers’ menu is pretty strong, and for that reason it’s easy to over-order. Four sharing plates between two will leave you in good stead, especially if you build your spread around the tawa masala lobster and shrimp kati roll – which, as well as bursting with perfectly seasoned seafood, creamy tomato and crunchy cachumber salad, is pretty filling in itself. Elsewhere the smoked aubergine missi roti bites with burnt corn and nutty rotis carry an amazing amount of flavoursome chili heat, and the smoky masala chicken skins, which are topped with a shock of pink pickled onion, provide the perfect counter crunch. If you can muster a main, diving fork first into the kid goat shoulder flatbread isn’t a bad shout, and there’s a certain satisfaction to be had in watching the waiter prise open the pastry top of the slow-cooked bone marrow biryani to dig up a slice of beef shin from a seemingly never-ending vat of rice.

Small plates from £3.50; mains from £12. Cocktails from £6. 1-5 Bloomberg Arcade, EC4N 8AR; brigadierslondon.com