Barbican Lounge, Level 1, The Barbican Centre www.barbican.org.uk
The Barbican Lounge is a relatively new restaurant, the space having been completely renovated, retaining a 60’s/70’s style (yeah baby!), it opened for business late last year. The styling of the restaurant has been kept minimalist, so much so there is a slight up market canteen type feel to it. Decor of the era that the Barbican was built has been replicated well in its furniture and fittings and it feels like you have stepped back in time, some four decades. Outside there is a great terrace that overlooks the huge man-made lake that forms a central feature of the complex, but we were told that this has to be cleared by 9pm so as to avoid disturbing the residents.
We started with the Carnivore sharing board, together with a selection of breads, this was loaded with slices of some good flavoured prosciutto, mild salami and nicely challenging chorizo, supported by a dish of herb and garlic marinated olives, and a scattering of sun-blushed cherry tomatoes. This was an ideal if comfortingly substantial sharing starter.
We were told that, typical of tapas style food, the dishes would arrive as they were ready rather than any specified order. We had established that the sharing board would come first, so we were happy with this. The smoked haddock and chive fishcakes with a caper mayonnaise was the first of the mains dishes to arrive, these were nicely crisp on the outside, well flavoured by the fish and given the slightest onion hint by the chive, the ratio of potato to fish was just right – the mayonnaise was a good accompaniment to them. Then on to the pressed rabbit, duck confit, foie gras and ham hock terrine served with a golden sultana puree and pickled beetroot. This was two hearty chunks of terrine, the composite meats held together by a good meaty jelly, the whole dish working well together; the savoury terrine was balanced by the sweetness of the beetroot and the sultana puree. I wasn’t sure that the tiger prawn cooked in shallot and fennel butter, finished with a splash of Pernod would work, but we ordered it because it sounded interesting and indeed it was. The prawns were lovely, juicily meaty and they were complimented well by the mildly aniseed cooking juices, it does work, believe me. Finally we saved the heavier dish to last, the braised ox cheek, bourguignon garnish and celeriac puree, which was a delightfully rich dish, the full flavoured slow cooked cheeks in a lovely sauce sat on top of the creamiest celeriac puree, it was really good.
Because we were having a mixture of starters and mains dishes, both fish and meat, we decided to go for a rose wine, the Argento Malbec, which was so deeply rose it was almost red, but had some good fruit and big character, standing up well to all the dishes. It was a good choice. Service at the Barbican Lounge was efficient and friendly. Despite its minimalist quality the Barbican Lounge has a good atmosphere, we enjoyed our meal there very much, it felt very relaxed and comfortable. So if you are looking for an interesting place to eat, that’s like stepping back a few decades the Barbican Lounge would be a great place to head for. Heck, if you just want some great food served in a tapas style while enjoying a relaxed atmosphere, its a great place to visit.