There are restaurants that trade on polish, and then there are those that trade on pulse. The Barbary has always been the latter — a place where the choreography of the room matters as much as what lands on the plate. You sit at the counter, shoulder to shoulder, and before long you’re part of it: the smoke, the noise, the quiet theatre of chefs working inches away.
When it opened in Neal’s Yard in 2016, it didn’t feel like a launch so much as a shift. London already had its share of small-plate restaurants, but few with this kind of confidence — fire-led cooking, big flavours drawn loosely from the Barbary Coast and beyond, and a refusal to over-explain any of it. It was immediate, instinctive, and, crucially, fun. A decade on, that formula hasn’t been diluted by success. If anything, it’s tightened — the edges sharper, the identity clearer — as the Studio Paskin group has expanded across Neal’s Yard and into Notting Hill.
“Ten years have flown by in the blink of an eye,” says Zoë and Layo Paskin, siblings and founders of Studio Paskin, the hospitality group behind the restaurants. “The Barbary has always been a place defined by the energy of the room — with the cooking in the centre of the action – and what strikes us most is that it still feels just as alive a decade on.
“We’ve always placed huge importance on the team we’re working with, and we think you feel that the moment you walk in. We’re especially proud of that. A restaurant is, at its heart, about hospitality — we all go out to feel a little better. And that feels the essence of The Barbary. We hope to continue welcoming guests who bring this little pocket of Neal’s Yard to life.”
You can feel that ethos in these recipes, released to mark the restaurant’s 10-year anniversary. They’re not about precision or plate-up — no tweezers required — but about flavour that lands quickly and lingers. Charred aubergine collapsed into spice, lamb softened with yoghurt and saffron, something sweet and pistachio-rich to finish. The sort of food designed to be passed around, eaten with your hands, argued over slightly. In other words: very much The Barbary, just without the queue.
Spinach borani
A luxurious dip of Persian origin. You could also try this with Swiss chard when in season.
Ingredients:
125g onion, sliced
30g olive oil
15g garlic, sliced
180g spinach, washed and chopped
375g Greek yoghurt
40g feta, crumbled
Salt and black pepper to taste
Pistachio and browned butter, to garnish
Method:
1. Place onions and oil in a saucepan and season with a little salt. Cook over medium heat until starting to brown, then add the garlic and cook until the onions are caramelised and the garlic has softened and started to colour.
2. Add the spinach and cook until wilted.
3. Cool the spinach mix before adding to the yoghurt and feta, then season with salt and pepper.
4. To serve, top with crushed pistachios and a drizzle of brown butter.
Za’aluk
A take on a traditional Moroccan “salad”, this is the most popular dip at the restaurant. This amount of chilli does result in a nicely spicy dip, but adjust the quantities to suit your palate!
Ingredients:
600g aubergine
40g garlic, sliced
30g green chilli, sliced
50g olive oil
325g tomatoes, diced
5g ground cumin
5g sweet paprika
Juice of one lemon
15g coriander, chopped
Salt to taste
Method:
1. Pierce the aubergine in a few places with a skewer or knife, then grill until charred all over and soft (alternatively, you can do this over a gas hob or in the oven). Leave the aubergine to cool, then peel and chop the flesh.
2. Meanwhile, place the garlic, chilli and oil in a pan and cook until the garlic is beginning to brown around the edges and the chilli has softened. Add the cumin and paprika, quickly followed by the tomatoes before the spices burn. Season with salt and cook over low heat until the tomatoes have broken down.
3. Once the tomatoes are completely soft, add the aubergine and let the mix cool to room temperature before adding the lemon juice and coriander, checking for seasoning (depending on the tomatoes, you may need more lemon juice).
4. To serve, just garnish with a little more olive oil.
Lamb chops
The yoghurt and lemon juice really help to tenderise the lamb. If you can let it sit overnight, the flavour will really permeate, but even just a few hours makes a big difference. We serve this with the simple sumac onion salad below.
Ingredients:
100g Greek yoghurt
Juice from half a lemon
5g garlic, micro-planed
3g ground turmeric
1g saffron, bloomed in a tablespoon of warm water
Salt to season
8 lamb chops, around 120g each
Method:
1. Combine all ingredients except the lamb chops in a bowl, then season with salt to taste. Coat the lamb chops in the yoghurt mix and allow to marinate in the fridge overnight.
2. Half an hour before you want to cook the lamb, remove it from the fridge so it can come up to temperature. Lightly season and oil the lamb chops before grilling to desired doneness (about 3-4 minutes per side for medium). Let them rest for a few minutes before serving alongside the sumac onion salad below.
Sumac onion salad
Ingredients:
1 small white onion, thinly sliced
5g sumac
½ bunch of parsley, picked
Lemon juice, olive oil and salt to season
Method:
1. Mix the onion and sumac together and leave to sit for 30 minutes so the sumac can start to cure the onion (you can also do this in advance).
2. When ready to serve, mix the parsley with the onions and season with lemon juice, olive oil and salt.
Harissa prawns
Choose as spicy or as mild a harissa as you like, serving with the cucumber labneh on the side to cool it down if you need.
Ingredients:
12 large prawns, peeled and cleaned, but leave the head and shell intact
50g harissa paste
30g mild Turkish pepper paste (you could substitute sundried tomato paste if you can’t find this)
20g honey
Lemon juice, olive oil and Maldon salt
Picked dill and mint
Method:
1. Mix the harissa, pepper paste and honey together, then use this mix to marinate the prawns.
2. Let sit for 30 minutes before grilling over high heat, then season with lemon juice, olive oil and Maldon salt.
3. Serve with cucumber labneh and lightly dressed herbs.
Cucumber labneh
Ingredients:
250g Greek yoghurt
Juice of half a lemon
15g confit garlic (or use raw garlic finely grated, but use only 1 small clove)
10g olive oil
4 baby cucumbers
Fine salt
Method:
1. Place the yoghurt in a sieve lined with a paper towel or J-cloth and let it stand in the fridge for a few hours until thickened.
2. Meanwhile, slice the cucumbers thinly and season with some salt. Leave it to sit for 30 minutes before squeezing out as much liquid as possible, then add to the strained yoghurt.
3. Crush the confit garlic, then add the olive oil and season with more fine salt if needed.
Hashpot
A fun way to recreate our signature hash cake at home! Do make sure you get 100 per cent pistachio paste (not one mixed with almonds), as it will make a huge difference to the final product. You can easily double or triple the recipe and set it in a dish instead of individual glasses for a big party.
Ingredients:
75g unsalted butter, melted
50g light brown sugar
45g caster sugar
45g egg yolk
55g double cream
50g highest quality pistachio paste
2g sea salt
150g whipping cream
100g oat biscuits (and a little extra to serve), crushed
Crushed pistachios to serve
Method:
1. Combine the brown and caster sugars in a bowl, then add the melted butter and mix together. Add the egg yolk, double cream, salt and pistachio paste to the sugar mix and cook over a bain marie, stirring frequently until the mixture reaches 85C.
2. Place the mixture into a container and cover with cling film that is touching the surface of the pistachio mixture to prevent it from forming a skin. Refrigerate until completely chilled (ideally overnight).
3. Once the mixture has completely cooled, whip the whipping cream to medium peaks, then fold in the pistachio mix. You want to achieve a mix that is stable, but light.
4. Divide the biscuits amongst 4 pots(reserving a little to top the hashpot), then smooth the pistachio mix over. Leave to set in the fridge for an hour before topping with crumbled biscuits and pistachios to serve.
Recipes from www.thebarbary.co.uk