Review of (Permanently closed) Barbecoa Piccadilly
Afternoon tea at Barbecoa Piccadilly is perfect for the meat lover looking for a treat between meals.
On a bitterly cold day in February, four of us snuck out from our jobs to check out the previews at Jamie Oliver’s new Barbecoa Piccadilly.
If you’re anything like me, you want good meat with minimal upper class wank, which made the prospect of eating afternoon tea at a high end steakhouse a little off-putting. We opted for afternoon tea it was the only time all of us could conveniently enter fake appointments in our diaries and agreed that the chance to preview the new menu, despite it being afternoon tea in a steakhouse, was worth a shot.
Ironically, the new Barbecoa has a less modern look and feel than the old Barbecoa (which overlooks St Paul’s Church in London). Whereas the St Paul’s Barbecoa has a minimalist feel with floor to ceiling windows right around the building, Barbecoa Piccadilly is in a refurbished building on Piccadilly and has a somewhat more refined feel. The restaurant is on the ground and basement levels with our group being seated on the ground floor for afternoon tea.
The afternoon tea menu consists of a variety of options. There’s the traditional afternoon tea which consists of the traditional pastries, tea and cakes as well as the Barbecoa afternoon tea which has additional meat options. Alternatively, you can select different elements of the afternoon tea sets. Being a group of meat lovers we all chose the Barbecoa savories, the meat part of the Barbecoa afternoon tea. Since we were already escaping from work, we decided to add some cocktails to go with it; the King’s conscience and the ….
The Barbecoa Savories came as four parts; a Wagyu beef slider, a short rib croquette, a crab pastry and goats curd and beetroot. We were advised to eat them in temperature order (from hot to cold). We could work out what was hot and what was cold, but eating the slider first and the goat’s curd last didn’t seem like a logical order. We challenged the waiter on why this is the case and it is simply to stop the warm food getting cold.
The Wagyu beef slider was incredible; the first bite revealed a moist and delicious beef and immediate appetite for a much larger burger. The short rib croquette was also excellent, bitting into the croquette revealed tender pieces of short rib. The crab pastry was better than expected, but has room for improvement; it’s mostly pastry and the pastry did not seem as fresh as it could be. The goat’s curd and beetroot was surprisingly good, but along with the crab pastry seemed like accessories to the slider and croquette. Overall we were impressed enough to order a second round of Barbecoa savories each.
The savouries at Barbecoa are an ideal treat for meat lovers looking to try something a little fancy between main meals. While it’s not the cheapest option (at the other end of the market, Flat Iron gets you an whole flat iron steak for £10) the Barbecoa Savouries (£12) are an afternoon tea that any meatlover can savour.
