Pitt Queue

There are always loads of new restaurants opening up in London every single week and even if I wanted to, it is near on impossible to try them all. I generally keep an ongoing list of interesting places that I hear about and pick them off one by one when I am meeting friends for a bite.

It must be said that whilst I try a lot, generally they are pretty disappointing. Part of me wonders if I am just a miserable old cow who is too demanding and not free in the moment to enjoy the experience. Then I talk to friends who have also eaten there and realise it is not just me. I have one friend in particular, Andy, who shares in my cynical outlook and the two of us invariably shrug our shoulders and cross places off our list without ever finding somewhere new to replace our tried and tested favourites.

When I came back from South Africa, I had a few new places on the list: Duck Soup, 10 Greek Street, Pitt Cue Co., Soif, Dabbous and 34. I went with the gang of 4 to Soif and found it…disappointing. Such a shame as sisters Brawn and Terroirs are pretty consistent for a good meal. Dabbous is booked up until May after some great reviews so that will have to be planned in and will definitely remain high up on my list, as will 34.

I took my friends from Dubai to Soho and looked into Pitt Cue but couldn’t face the queue. So we opted for 10 Greek Street after a glowing review from Jay Rayner. Whilst I normally agree with him, I found it nice but just not exciting. Duck Soup followed in a similar vein, via the Pitt Cue queue. Maybe it was the uncomfy bar stools, the overpriced wine list or the badly cleaned oysters, but it is not remaining on any list of mine.

Pitt Cue Co. started out as one of those street food airstream trailers which was parked for the latter half of last year under Hungerford bridge, Southbank. It generated quite a cult following over the Summer as people raved about the pulled pork buns and the sheer simplicity of the offer. It was spot on trend with smoked meats, bbq cooking and pickles. What a way to create a restaurant. These guys are clearly very switched on. Having established their status, they could open their new permanent site just behind Carnaby Street with a loyal customer base who will wait for a long time to partake in a pork bun. Take note, this is a great way to establish a restaurant. They have the requisite customers, simple menu, good food and trendy lighting. All they need now is a cookbook and some sort of merchandising such as a branded apron to tick all the boxes in the guide to opening a successful casual eaterie.

You can therefore understand why I was persevering to get into Pitt Cue and so third time lucky I dragged Andy to Soho and we just stayed in line. In fact, that day it was a shorter line and we were very happy in the bar just taking it all in, biding our 40 minute wait time surrounded by other keen Pitt Cue-ers. In hindsight, I would advise placing your order at the same time, as we waited a crazy amount of time not just upstairs in the bar, but also downstairs at our table. This wait was only accentuated by the young hip couple we had to share our table with. They were clearly in the first throes of love, well she was anyway. And all the badly whispered inappropriate comments, lurching across the table and overt noisy kissing were enough to put anyone off their pulled pork. This was not a great start!

In fact we concluded that this really isn’t a place for a romantic interlude at all as the food requires a gung ho attack which can only end messily. We gave these two a fortnight at most and tried in the most British way to avoid any eye contact or interaction.

Our meal

We decided to share the beef ribs, pork belly in a bun special and smoked hot wings with pickled celery, accompanied by chipotle slaw, crispy pickled shitake mushrooms and grilled hispy cabbage. Everything came in white enamel tins with a pile of serviettes and then it was all hands to deck. I started with the pork and Andy the beef. Then we swapped. It was only when I managed to look up with a cleanly wiped face that I realised that neither of us had a bad thing to say! This is a first for us. Amazing.

The pork belly bun special with apple, jalapeno & molasses was a perfect blend of sweet, sour, salty and spicy even if it was in the dreaded brioche bun. The beef ribs were impressive in so many ways and the mushrooms were wonderful. My personal favourite was the cabbage with charred jagged edges and a glossy buttery glaze.

Beef rib or alien invasion? Obscene either way

The whole bill came in under £50 with drinks and I can promise you that I couldn’t even eat a wafer thin mint for the rest of the day. Great value, yummy food and entertaining company. What more can a girl ask?

Go to Pitt Queue (we decided to re-brand it) and focus on the pork. I can honestly say it is worth it.