Barbecoa by Jamie Oliver, London

It’s hard to imagine a better backdrop to a restaurant than St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, and the setting to Barbecoa by Jamie Oliver certainly is spectacular. I’ve eaten here quite a few times, and have always considered it a ‘safe choice’. I’d been less than impressed with Gordon Ramsay’s place in the same building less than a week earlier, so would this place do any better?

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I ordered medium just as I know from experience they cook it correctly here (just as Gaucho Piccadilly always gets this right). The 14oz steak was relatively nicely charred (although not as much as Bread St. Kitchen), a good size, and had a nice amount of Rib Eye Cap. There wasn’t much juice, and the steak did appear a little bit dry, but the texture was good for 80% of it. For 20%, there was a lot of gristle or very chewy. If it wasn’t for this 20%, it would have been a 5/5.

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The steak flavour was lovely. Very meaty with a definite flavour without requiring any sauce.

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I’m not having much luck with fries recently. These fries looked like they would be great. Advertised as being made with beef dripping, they were a mixture of sizes and looked like they would taste delicious. They were unfortunately a massive let down; I don’t think I’ve ever sent fries back in a restaurant, but here I came close. They were very hard and very chewy. This will have been a one-off, as the chips here previously have been good.

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Our waitress was perfect. Very friendly and made us feel welcome.

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The decor here is nice, with a nice mixture of tables with different types of seating. All of the decor is completely overshadowed by the fantastic floor to ceiling views of St. Paul’s Cathedral. On a previous visit though, I was once seated round the corner, which had a completely different setting. Unless I’m very much mistaken though, there’s only one hand dryer in the gents, which created a line both times I visited.

Image credit: Barbecoa website

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Just over £115 including service and a soft drink for two. Not bad, but I wouldn’t say it’s worth any more.

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Did I mention the lovely view of St. Paul’s?

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I like this place. My view of it being a safe bet with solid food, a nice view, good location and nice staff hasn’t changed post this visit. I’m willing to overlook the bad chips and 20% of my steak this time round, and say you should go here if you want to visit a restaurant in One New Change.