I’d only been to The Barbary once before and was quite surprised when I checked on this blog to find it was as long ago as 2016 – a few weeks after it opened. As ‘little sister’ to the wonderful The Palomar – one of my favourite restaurants – and receiving great reviews, it couldn’t be missed. It turned out to be a little disappointing, but not enough to put me off going again, and certainly I hadn’t expected to wait nine years to return! So when my friend Sharon suggested it as one of the places we might eat when we met up last night, it was an opportunity not to be missed. How had the ‘little sister’ matured? What would I think of it now?

The Barbary is situated in Neal’s Yard in the Seven Dials, an area of London’s Covent Garden. It’s a tiny little courtyard within sits some independent shops, restaurants and cafes and the famous Neal’s Yard Remedies, a pioneer of natural skin and body care, which won Sustainable Luxury Brand of the Year in 2023. By chance, I actually needed some make-up from them, so I was able to pop into the shop before eating. There are therapy rooms where a number of alternative health therapists practise and just round the corner from the courtyard, Neal’s Yard Dairy, which sells fabulous cheeses. Over the last 40 years it’s become an iconic destination not just for those seeking good food and health products but interested tourists snapping away with their cameras.

After doing my shopping, I wandered around the area to fill in a bit of time and bumped into Sharon, so we decided to see if we could get into The Barbary a bit earlier than our booking, which turned out to be okay. You sit at a horseshoe-shaped counter which wraps around the open kitchen.

I like this set-up, though as it was the hottest day so far this year, and we found ourselves sitting opposite the grill, at first we thought it might be too warm, but then we settled down and soon forgot the heat and instead felt a cooling and welcome breeze – I’m not sure if that was aircon or the open doors at the front. The background music was being played quite loudly and unfortunately that didn’t tone down so it was fortunate we were sitting close to each other at a counter or talking would have been a bit tricky.

Both of us remembered that food came fast and so considered whether it would be a good idea to order a few things first and then our ‘main’ plates? But in the end we didn’t. Certainly our server was very attentive but we felt she was also sensitive to the speed we wanted to go at and she was nice and friendly too, so we were very happy with the service. We ordered fewer dishes than she suggested though (I find this often happens and of course with sharing plates you can always order more, so best to start modestly) but we had plenty and they did come in a kind of ‘starter’ and ‘main’ order that we wished for.

We also asked for tap water and ordered two glasses of white wine: Pinot Gris (£10) and Petit Fantet (£9).

First to come was the Jerusalem Bagel (£6), which I remembered from my first visit and it comes with a little ‘bag’ of za’atar to sprinkle over the top. It was gorgeous, especially with the Whipped Cod’s Roe, Spring Onion, Za’atar (£8.50). The whipped cod’s roe was wonderfully smooth and nicely mild; really delicious.

The Artichoke Alla Giudia, Spiced Labneh (£12) looked spectacular. It also tasted fabulous and was very special.

I suggested we ordered Fattoush Salad (£12.50) as it’s one of my favourite things. One of my favourite to make is a Moro recipe with pomegranate and aubergine; also ‘Ottolenghi Style‘.

It was a delicious salad but with the rather unexpected addition of feta cheese and nuts, it was more of a main course salad than a side dish.

From the ‘main’ list, we chose Black Salmon, Dukkah (£26). Checking the recipe later, which I found on their Facebook page, it’s salmon marinated in aubergine syrup, chilli flakes, sugar, lemon juice and salt.  It was very delicious, though I did feel the salmon was a bit overcooked as I like mine quite rare.

To go with the salmon we chose Tenderstem Broccoli, Miso Tahini (£10), which was a perfect accompaniment.

We looked at the dessert menu but decided they all sounded a bit too sweet for us so settled on having just some mint tea (£3). We did have a discussion with our server about how it would come and asked to have it a simple mint leaves with hot water. The only coffee on offer was Turkish Coffee, otherwise I would have had an espresso.

It was a really enjoyable evening – both seeing my friend and the meal. The food was wonderful with some great flavours, so quite exciting, but we were rather put off by the noise level and told staff nicely on the way out. It’s hard not to compare it with its ‘big sister’, The Palomar, and that would still be my first choice to go to, but The Barbary is nevertheless special, its food a little different to its sister, taking inspiration from the Barbary Coast of North Africa and the Berbers in the Altlas Mountains.

Our bill with wine and service came to £113.50 for the two of us.

I decided to walk back to Waterloo to catch a fast train home to Twickenham, which is about a 25-minute walk. But it was still quite early and nice to walk through Covent Garden’s Piazza. As I passed Santa Nata though, I knew I just had to go in. The family love their pasteis de Nata and I wouldn’t be forgiven for missing the chance to buy some. So a box came home with me …