Brother Marcus Borough Yards

Advice from basically everyone tells us not to fill up on bread - yet at Brother Marcus’s newest outpost in Borough Yards, that’s exceptionally difficult to avoid. Black garlic houmous, deeply smoky babaganoush and chilli-topped fava bean purée are served alongside deliciously hot, pillowy pita which, if you’re anything like us, you won’t be able to show any restraint around. And that’s just for starters.

With 25 covers, this chic South London restaurant is small enough to feel intimate, but when we visited on a fairly unexciting weeknight, every seat was full - testament to just how crowdpleasing and well executed the menu is. The stonewashed walls, blue tiled booths and rattan furniture work in harmony to create the obligatory Mediterranean vibe, but there are touches of a harder industrial edge, inspired by its location in Borough’s converted railway arches. The outcome is a versatile, contemporary aesthetic that makes it just as suitable for casual dinner with friends as it would be for something more special.

Bread aside, our standout dishes were the supremely fresh and colourful heritage tomato salad, finished with a crispy capers and a sweet sherry vinegar, and the crispy aubergine skewer - a hypnotic spiral of fried goodness with labneh and grape molasses for dunking. But the beauty of mezze menus like these is that you really can try a bit of everything - although contrary to the popular upsell technique, the friendly waitstaff will inform you honestly if you do attempt to over-order (they were completely correct about us having no room left for extra falafel after polishing off the divine feta and halloumi borek).

Their guidance is all the more important as you’ll absolutely want to leave room for dessert. One bite of the baklava sandwich and you’ll wonder why no one thought to add a slab of Greek yoghurt ice cream to honey-soaked layers of pastry sooner. And if you really can’t decide what to sample first? Choose the £36.50 Marcus’ Choice menu for a curated selection of the day’s finest dishes.

Brother Marcus' third site is in the new industrial retail space of Borough Yards. This social, cultural and shopping hub involves a lost medieval street system once-forgotten warehouses and railway arches houses that are now retail spaces, welcoming visitors from all over the UK. This is a destination for all in this, one of London's most historic areas.

The Mediterranean brunch brand was created by three friends, Arthur, Alex and Tas. The aim was simple: serve up Eastern Mediterranean flavours to the people of the capital. They travelled the region gathering intel before returning to bring us their take on the cuisine. The chain is named after Alex's younger brother, Marcus, who makes friends with everyone. 

The menus at Brother Marcus Angel contains many eastern delights, so we can most likely expect something similar at the Borough Yards branch. For brunch, there are harissa eggs on organic sourdough, sweet potato fritters or a smokey shakshuka, as well as sweeter dishes like French toasted crumpets with carob treacle. 'Rips and Dips' include the likes of fluffy pita with za'atar, houmous with smoked paprika chickpeas, fennel tzatziki with Aleppo chilli and smokey aubergine baba ghanoush with preserved lemon. Moving to the mouthwatering mezze list, we see sharing plates like wild mushrooms with Jerusalem artichokes, salsify crisps and zhoug, fried calamari with almond purée and basil, and crispy pork belly, Metaxa (a Greek amber spirit) and date glaze with apple labneh and pecans. If this all sounds like too much choice, let them choose a curated selection especially for you. Bottomless brunch is also available, which includes unlimited Prosecco, bloody Maries, Bellinis, Mimosas and beers for an extra £30.