Three Eight Four, referring to its location on Brixton’s Coldharbour Lane, is one of a pioneering group of bars and restaurants at the vanguard of the neighbourhood’s blossoming transformation. A sister venue to the Seven at Brixton bar at Brixton Market, Three Eight Four replaces Seven’s tapas with a small plates food menu, keeping the cocktails flowing with the same experimental theatricality but employing an even more eclectic policy on ingredients.
Brixton natives will probably know that the building was once a butcher’s shop, with a sign above the door advertising horsemeat for sale in the hungry post-war rationing era. Those days are thankfully gone, and no horses have been harmed in the making of this menu. The protein here is all above board – think slow-cooked brisket on brioche, pastrami and Emmental sliders and skewered pork loin. The décor is at the edgy end of the spectrum, with unusual light fittings catching the eye, such as the under-lit bar, the bedstead spring feature in the back room, and some wall-mounted fittings in the front fashioned from wire cages filled with blown bulbs.