The Barbican Kitchen, Plymouth Gin Distillery restaurant review

Perhaps I'm jaded, but I don't really expect celebrity chefs to ever cook at their restaurants more than a couple of times a year.

James Martin. Jamie Oliver. Marco Pierre White. I wonder how often they rustle the pans at any of their gaffs?

Granted, James and Chris Tanner aren’t quite so well known. But I remember James being a regular on Ready Steady Cook back in the day alongside legends like Ainsley Harriott and Lesley Waters.

So, I was genuinely surprised when I was told at the end of our lunch at The Barbican Kitchen in Plymouth that James and Chris both cooked our meal. Furthermore, the brothers are in the kitchen pretty much every weekend and there's normally always at least one brother behind the stove.

Located upstairs from the historic Plymouth Gin distillery, the Barbican Kitchen opened in 2006. It’s a bit noughties in décor, but its loft dining space is cosy and warm.

With its seaside location, it’s understandable that the brasserie menu leans towards fish dishes. However, if you’re more meat inclined then options include slow cooked beef short rib with bone marrow and horseradish crust (£34.95), seared calves liver with creamed potato (£25.95) and gnocchi with Wye Valley asparagus (£25.95).

At lunchtime, which is when we pitched up for a walk-in, there's a compact set menu offering three courses for a very reasonable £35.

Considering the Barbican Kitchen’s location, it would have been rude not to order a gin and tonic. A Plymouth sloe Gin (£6.55) was excellent with plenty of hedgerow fruit. Mrs G had a couple of very good glasses of Mâcon-Villages (£7.75) and Muscadet (£6.25) whilst I also knocked back a Belgian blonde-esque Salcombe Breeze (£2.80).

Keeping it fish-focused, we both ordered set menu specials to start.

Thick slices of beetroot cured salmon were accompanied by classic flavour pairings - pickled beetroot and puree, compressed cucumber and blobs of creme fraiche. It was a lovely light and summery dish.

My crab salad (£3 supplement) was a belter. Two big quenelles of mayo dressed sweet white crab meat were joined by blobs of avocado puree and cleansing grapefruit and radish pieces.

I love earthy brown crab meat and here it had been cleverly incorporated into a whipped butter that was served alongside excellent soft crumbed bread.

For main we both opted for the market fish of the day and it was a first class piece of fish cookery. Golden crisp-skinned cod flaked into beautiful pearlescent flakes. It was sat atop rich mash-adjacent crushed new potatoes and bitter balancing rainbow chard. The whole dish was brought together by a superb watercress velouté sauce that combined buttery richness with the zing of lemon and an addictive aniseed note, which I think must have come from tarragon.

My previous encounter with a sticky toffee pudding was a disappointment. The Barbican Kitchen’s is one of the best I've ever eaten. The sponge was impeccably soft yet light with a good hit of dark sugar and it was well drenched in a toasty caramel sauce. A dollop of clotted cream ice cream was so thick and rich that I wouldn’t be surprised if it was made solely from its headline ingredient.

A very good cheese selection (£6 supplement) combined pokey Blue Moon and ripe and creamy Sharpham brie with an interesting selection of crackers and delightfully fragrant quince jelly. Wookey Hole cheddar had a good tanginess but a slightly homogeneous supermarket cheese texture.

We had a superb lunch at the Barbican Kitchen with excellent service and delicious booze. It certainly showed that there were a pair of celebrity chefs in the kitchen as this was one of the best fish-focused meals we’ve had in a long time.

The Details:

Address - The Barbican Kitchen, Black Friars Distillery, 60 Southside St, Plymouth PL1 2LQ

Web - https://barbicankitchen.com/

Telephone - 01752 604448