Unit 9 First Avenue, Brixton Village, London SW9 8PR

Telephone 020 7501 9362

Tiger and Pig is in the alley to left as you enter Brixton Village from Coldharbour Lane. The name is a play on the Chinese zodiac. They indicate compatibility in relationships, although what it has to do with the food is anyone’s guess  – although it is a Chinese establishment. Small with just a few plain tables with benches inside and out. The ceiling is covered with lots of different sized white paper lanterns – really jolly.The menu is short- small plates, Bao, sides and dessert (which is coming soon but hadn’t arrived on the night we went). For small plates there was broccoli with yuzu mayonnaise, Chicken wings and peanut powder, ribs and gochujang sauce, Fried chicken and hot sauce, sweet potato fries and wasabi mayonnaise. We chose the ribs and the fries – both were lovely but they had pulled back on the wasabi and it tasted much more like lemon.

Next we had Bao (steamed buns), which are served sliced almost in half and are cooked to order. We had them filled with slow cooked pork and panko fried chicken. Our favourite was the pork. There are veggie options (mushroom, and tofu and kimchi). The Bao are steamed in an oven and if you are lucky to face the kitchen (some poetic license here) then you can see them grow in size.

Brixton has waited years for a Bao restaurant and now we have two (see our recent review of Dunburi & Co. in Brixton Station Road). This one, while small, is much more like a restaurant and we are determined to visit both of them again. Although Tiger and Pig is a bit inconsistent with its opening times, so I hope that settles down soon. The bill came to £22.16 and included one beer. For some reason they added a 15% “discretionary service charge”. This is a very small restaurant and we could have helped ourselves so we suggest in future they remove this unless they are looking after a large party.