The sun is shining (for the most part) so it’s time to fire up those BBQs! But if barbecuing in a packed park on the weekend isn’t your idea of fun, you’ll be pleased to hear that The BBQ Club has set up shop on the Southbank – where someone else will do the hard work for you!
Opened by Jimmy Garcia, the man behind winter’s The Lodge, The BBQ Club is a split-level restaurant overlooking the Thames just down from the Southbank Centre. The BBQ Club offers two options – a walk-up bar and a ticketed rooftop dining restaurant with a six-course set menu. The walk-up bar offers burgers – beef, veggie and monkfish – as well as BBQ boxes. Take your pick from hot smoked salmon with a grain salad, lamb skewer with flatbread or burrata with charred broccoli, and maybe treat yourself to some fries, halloumi fries (yes please!) or BBQ chicken wings as a side. There is also a bar if you want to simply sit and enjoy the view!
If you’re after something a little more, then grab yourself a ticket to the rooftop restaurant. Long shared tables have a small BBQ spread out in the middle for every six people. The staff will bring your plates and the item to cook, place it on the BBQ for you and then it’s over to you! There are timers and each dish has a recommended cooking time, so no need to worry about working out the optimum time to cook a langoustine! This way you get the fun and flavour of barbecuing but without any of the preparation.
The menu starts with miso glazed baby aubergines to cook, with pomegranate, molasses yoghurt and pickled green chilli and mint. The aubergines char nicely on the BBQ (which are charcoal) and go well with the sweet but tart yoghurt. Next up is squid with green olive and avocado guacamole, lime and rocket oil. The squid cooks in a flash and is complemented by the creamy but slightly salted guac – thanks to the olives – something we may well try recreating at home! Then comes a whole langoustine with roast red pepper pureé, black garlic, jamon and smoked almond. This dish involves getting your hand dirty but is worth it – the juicy langoustines have come over from Spain hence the jamon pairing.
The next dish was probably our favourite – a lamb kebab served with flatbread, tzatziki, pomegranate tabbouleh and mint oil. The chunks of lamb were tender and juicy with a lovely BBQ flavour. We would recommend putting everything in your flatbread to make one big, delicious wrap! Just watch out for the juices that might run out – maybe don’t wear white! The final savoury dish was a pork chop with potato salad, charred corn tomato salsa, BBQ sauce and charred spring onion. A rich BBQ sauce and light salsa paired well together with the pork but after the lamb kebab seemed a bit lacking in flavour. Finally, fresh griddled apricots were served with honey mascarpone, ginger biscuit crumb and candied orange peel. This was a lovely, light dessert and made us think about all the other fruit we might try to BBQ this summer…
The menu is priced at £45 per person which allows you to try a variety of dishes and all of the ingredients are top quality. The location overlooking the river is also really fantastic – having a BBQ and drink watching the sunset over London is something that never gets old!
For more information and to book tickets, visit: https://thebbqclub.com/
