After work earlier this month, I headed over to One New Change to have dinner at Barbecoa, one of Jamie Oliver's restaurants, with the bloke. I used to work a five-minute walk from the restaurant, and it's been on my list to try for the past five years. Now, the bloke works about five minutes away, so I got the tube and met him here outside of St. Paul's Cathedral.
Barbecoa was founded by Jamie Oliver and uses fire-based cooking methods. The kitchen has pit smokers, tandoors, fire pits, grills, and wood-fire ovens.
I love the views of the cathedral, and I found that Barbecoa is the perfect place to see the great dome and be able to enjoy it without too many tourists, noise, and poor weather.
We had a perfect view of the cathedral from our table.
We were given the menus and decided which drinks and meals we wanted.
As it was in between lunch and dinner, I went for the lunch menu and orderd the vegetarian option (potato cakes). This is a set menu which can come with two or three courses. I opted for the starter instead of the dessert, and we shared the chicken wings with hot sauce, peanut and coriander. These were very tasty and presented well.
Our cocktails that we ordered came after our starter for some reason. I had the "coming up roses" cocktail, which is on the £5.00 offer after 5:00. "Coming Up Roses" contains vodka, rose liquer, cranberry, sugar, and lemon. It was served with a rose petal on top. The bloke had the Charles Dickens. This included port, amaro, and rye whiskey. Barbecoa also has a very large range of whiskey on offer, so if you do like whiskey, this is a restaurant that you will want to check out.
I also ordered the virgin cocktail, appropriately named "St. Pauls." This came later on, hence the different photographs. The cocktail contains grapefruit, bitter lemon, and marmalade. It tasted refreshing.
We were then informed (after we were told they did have potato cakes) that they were out of potato cakes. This was the only vegetarian option on the menu, so it's not good really if you've come with a group and you're vegetarian. Because I do eat chicken, they made me a special dish. So, we had to wait a bit longer for our meals. They do have a chicken dish that needs to be shared between two, but the bloke had already ordered and I did not want him to be disappointed; it's disappointing when you agree what to have and then have to change it.
The bloke had lamb rump, which was served with creamy mushrooms and thyme. He also ordered a side of the beef-dripping chips.
He said the lamb was very good.
My meal consisted of seasoned chicken with onion and a variety of mushrooms. This tasted yummy and tender. It's not on the menu, though, so I am not really sure what the seasoning was. Because of this, I also needed to order a vegetable or potato side, so I opted for the coal-roasted sweet potato. This was very tender and coated with sage, garlic, and chili.
We were asked if we wanted another cocktail, and we both said we were. I had the Barby, which is made with London Dry gin, lemon, sugar, rhubard bitters and Prosecco.
The bloke had the Chartreuse Daiquiri. It is made with Chartruese, lime, and white rum, and sugar.
We watched as dusk fell over the great dome of St. Paul's Cathedral.
Then, it was time for desserts! I ordered the Barbecoa Brownie, and this was served with malted ice cream, puffed grains, and caramel. The brownie was delicious, and I'm a fan of Jamie Oliver's brownies which I sometimes bake based on his recipe in one of his cookbooks. The dessert was delicious, but I am not a fan of salted caramel sauce as I find it too bitter.
The bloke had a selection of ice creams/sorbet. He had chocolate, vanilla, and a raspberry sorbet. These tasted wonderful and is among the best ice cream that I have ever had.
Because of the problems with my main meal, we got the starter for free, and I also got my main meal discounted. I could not fault the place at all, and the service was very attentive and friendly. I'm also happy that they were able to accommodate me due to the problem with the main.
I will definately go back to Barbecoa; I really want to try the beer can chicken main.
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