The Barbary Next Door

5 years ago I told you about my absolute favorite restaurant in London, The Barbary.

This week, I come to you with even better news, they now have a sister, and it’s even better than the first child.

The Barbary Next Door has opened, as the title says, next door to The Barbary. Even a more intimate space than its original restaurant, this foods of the world venue is catering for 10 lucky adventurers.

We had the opportunity to test this out this week and we were instantly in love.

WHY? Let me start with the service. From the moment we walked in, we felt welcomed. The bartenders, the waiters and the cooks, they all seem to have a great time working there and they transmit that to us with their service. They provided us with great detail about the food and wine we were about to try and provided us with lots of suggestions, something that we appreciated.

In an era were hospitality staffing is suffering, getting this kind of service was a great plus.

But let’s talk about the star of the night, the food.

WHAT SHOULD YOU GET? All the food was otherworldly, and even better, inexpensive. A menu meant to be shared, with lots of African, Middle Eastern and Iberian influences. We had all of the snacks on offer, the pita bread, the oysters, the quail eggs. What a great start. All of it followed with Afghan bread and an assortment of savory dips that we couldn’t stop eating until they were fgone.

Then we tried the fresh seabream sashimi paired with a citric salad that worked marvels. To top it up, we had what was probably the best grilled chicken we’ve tried in a year and an oxtail tagine to round things up.

Are you bought in yet? Then here the logistics:

WHERE TO FIND IT: : 16A Neal's Yard, London WC2H 9DP

OPENING HOURS: Tuesday to Saturday from 5 to 11pm. Happy Days!

Enjoy careless readers,

TCB xx