Barbecoa St Paul's

Never been to a Jamie Oliver restaurant before I went to Barbecoa... so I decided to try this one! This is near St. Paul's Cathedral and we were able to see a lot of it from our table in the bar area. Perfect nighttime backdrop for a loud and bustling meal.

For food my companion and I got a bunch of small plates to share such as the tuna crudo, smoked duck breast, foie gras, and salmon tartar.

Oh and of course a British beer. Tasty beer for like $4... cheapest thing you'll find in all of London haha.

Cute waiters too! Will definitely return if I'm on that side of the pond again.

The coat check is too full for our coats and our table isn't ready when we arrive for our nine o'clock reservation. The hostess asks if we would like to take a walk around. Mind you it's January and -1C outside; her offer to wander a shopping mall, in which all the shops are long shut, we decline.

We meander over to the bar and soon after we are surprised with a proposal of a table. As we cross the length of the restaurant to get to it we are taken with the excellent view of St Paul's Cathedral. What seemed full of fail now had promise. We sit down.

I take a chance - ordering the grilled vegetable salad in a BBQ joint - but when a bountiful plate of produce arrives I'm happy I did.

The pulled pork is also a delightful and savoury surprise, accompanied by slaw and cornbread. However, the creamed spinach could benefit from more texture, it's a bit too close to baby food for my liking.

Having walked past Jamie Oliver's Barbecoa a few times and stopping by to try and get the pork belly, which I haven't managed to secure yet as it seems extremely popular with the locals,you could imagine the excitement and joy I had when I was able to get it today.

I went for the Pork Belly hotbox, which comes with a selection of beans in sauce, slow cooked pork belly and a rather posh take on coleslaw. Wraps and salad boxes are also available, however, today I felt the urge to treat myself, it was payday yesterday after all.

I was delighted when the friendly member of staff handed over my food, a little less delighted when it felt very light, but happily made my way off and back to the office. I got settled in and opened up the box, taking a snap of my food for yelp of course, and was pretty happy with what lay in front of me. The coleslaw looked great, fresh and not too covered in mayonnaise, the beans and sauce smelt lovely and the generous pork belly cut looked like it had been slow cooked beyond perfection. I got stuck in and, to my disappointment, there was no crackling on the pork belly, however, what it lacked in crackling it more than made up for in flavour and taste.

Coming in at around £6 for a lunch its not the cheapest option out there nor the most expensive and my only word of advice is, if you're starving and looking for a fulling lunch this may not be for you. If you are after a lovely lunch time treat, and saving room for dinner, then you're definitely in good company with this meal.

Met a couple of friends I hadn't seen in years here last weekend and it was very swanky indeed!

From the moment Mr Debs and myself walked in downstairs, we could see we were in a rather fancy place. I mean, an actual reception area for a restaurant? Colour me impressed! We headed upstairs to wait for the rest of our guests and ordered a couple of schooners of the Organic Hells Lager which was very nice. I was really intrigued by the veal butter and so ordered the sourdough to start, which we shared - the bread was really tasty and the butter just set it off perfectly. I then went for the pit beef (I'm blaming the amount of Man V Food we'd been watching beforehand on the fact I was desperate for it) and it was delicious! Really tender and flavourful, and the lettuce on the side with bacon and shallot crumble was tasty as well.

Staff were impeccable the whole night - attentive without being overbearing and the restaurant itself is gorgeous. Very sleek decor and it certainly feels upmarket. As it's right next to St Paul's Cathedral, the view you get of said cathedral is utterly amazing.

The only thing I guess I would grumble about would be the price - but I suppose for the location, the atmosphere and the service it's to be expected! For a fancy dinner out in London, it's pretty ideal.

Great location, wonderful steakhouse menu. A great way to celebrate our last night in London. Cocktails were tasty, and the pork cracklings a satisfying accompaniment. I had the rhubarb g&t - it was light and refreshing. My hubs and I shared the ribeye for 2, accompanied by charred broccoli and onion rings. The meat was perfectly cooked and so delicious. We ordered a smoked Bernaise sauce that was over the top good. And please save room for dessert. The caramel apple with fennel ice cream and goat cheese is one of the best desserts I've ever had.

So why the four stars and not 5? Steak knives. They were dull as toast and we had to chop through our steak, which was very tender. For the price of the meal, Mr. Oliver, please buy some decent knives.

Go, go go. And enjoy the street view of. St. Paul 's.

If you like meat, this is the place to go! You can get a rack of ribs three times bigger than your face. I had the pork belly with waffle which was delicious! The drinks are quite good as well - happy hour is from 5 to 8 pm and you can get some cocktails for 5 pounds. My favorite thing I ate at Barbecoa was the Snickersphere, which is like a snickers in a dome form. The Snickersphere was a rich chocolate exterior filled with caramel and more chocolate and topped with gold flakes. To complement the food, there is a fantastic view of St Paul's from the restaurant!

Brought some friends from out of town to try Barbecoa. I ordered the following:

- T-bone steak
- Burnt ends gravy
- Chips

The meat has a good flavour but was something of a hassle to eat with a fair amount of toughness to cut through. The gravy is decent, sitting just above the average mark which is where the chips found themselves, being not particularly special.

For this price I expect more.

Great steak, Ample size

Wife really likes the chef who owns the place

Brownie for Desert was excellent

H & I met up with my niece & boyfriend for dinner at this Jamie Oliver restaurant. Since we were early we headed to the bar for a cocktail. They have a nice selection of cocktails, Jessica Rabbit anyone? This concoction includes vanilla vodka, strawberry puree, elderflower, lime & proseco. Yum-um! H had his usual martini & we had fun watching the mixologist making a stirred martini.

Once everyone arrived we were seated by the wall of windows & the open kitchen. My niece insisted we start with the Devil's Cornbread. Being from the south I had my doubts. JO is pretty daring adding this to his menu. But oh my! Served in an iron skillet, the cornbread was light & airy. They top it with cheddar & 'nduja. Yes, yes the devil had his hand in this sinfully delicious bread. Very highly recommended starter. For our main course H & I opted for the Chateaubriand for Two (which could feed 4) topped with truffle butter. I thought it would be hard to top the Devil's Cornbread but this steak hit my top 5 best. Cooked to perfection, you could tell this was a very choice cut of beef. Really, no need for any sauce or butter. The natural flavor of the beef was outstanding & the texture perfect. I know we had sides but for the life of me I can not remember what we had. But the choices are unique like roasted pumpkin, beef dripping chips & gruyere-truffle mac & cheese.

The dining area is gorgeous. Modern, warm colors with gold. The layout of the restaurant had a nice flow & with all of the windows seems much larger. The service was exceptional. Really love this place & had a wonderful evening!

We were excited to come upon this place and even more excited when the hostess confirmed that they had availability for the meal that they call "Sunday Roast." ("Sunday what?" we must have asked her a thousand times... one of many comical communication challenges we had with Londoners, despite ostensibly speaking the same language.) She led us upstairs and wow, the place is beautiful. I mean, the view of St. Paul's alone... but it's pretty snazzy even without that. The service throughout was friendly and efficient.

However, I did not like the food. We started with short-rib croquettes, which were very dry and bland. I then had the sea trout starter, which was fine and perhaps the best thing of the meal. My St. Louis ribs, though, were basically inedible, with very, very little meat to consume. The dessert was pretty good, but I felt that the star of the show was a miss. I wouldn't return.