Big Easy BBQ & Crabshack, Covent Garden

Big Easy BBQ & Crabshack, Covent Garden

750g bone-in steak Big Easy Crabshack

Trying out BBQ at Big Easy, Covent Garden

Barbeque is given a fresh injection of life at the new branch of Big Easy in Covent Garden.

This is thanks to its newly acquired talent in the kitchen – Kenny Callaghan and Pete Daversa, formerly of the celebrated Blue Smoke and Hill Country Barbecue Market of New York.

Their BBQ offensive is a clear winner from the get go, with the essence of slow smoked meat in the air and the grim satisfaction that can only be had by consuming a lot of melted fat and singed flesh.

The sheeny surface of a sharing steak is characterized with the appropriate marks of a BBQ. Its charred exterior covers a centre of meat still wet, graduating in colour from deepest black to a beating pink heart.

Additions of peppercorn sauce and roasted, smoky mushrooms do nothing to add civility; this is not sophisticated fare. Instead, this is the answer to one of the most primal of needs and it shan’t be tamed.

Lobster bake Big Easy Crabshack

A Lobster Bake is so much more than its name implies. As well as the obligatory half-lobster there is mess of mussels, jumbo shrimp, crab claws & new potatoes, cooked in garlic. The sauce is thick with flavour and fragrance, viscous and entirely dunkable. Use a muffin of cornbread to mop up whatever may be left after the shellfish has been demolished.

Read more: Dirty Bones Kensington, & *Those* Cheeseburger Gyoza

'Miami Vice', 'Margarita' Big Easy Crabshack

Dessert at Big Easy, Covent Garden

Go for a stretch, bend and open up that core to make more room for a dessert that cannot be missed. The sticky toffee pudding is a credit to its kind and to Big Easy. I don’t know where it came from but I’m glad it’s on a plate in all its glory.

This great tranche of a pudding is over-saturated in treacle syrup, so much so that it seeps out in hot pools. It has a mirrored gloss, the kind that only liquid sugar can possess.

Sticky Toffee Pudding Big Easy Crabshack

It flirts outrageously with me and I do the honest thing and annihilate it. A sense of satisfaction ensues, prompted by the simplest of actions. It feels good; a need met and an opponent vanquished.

For a less intense experience, get the more than adequate waffles and leave perhaps a little less red-faced. Big Easy has the power to release the caveman in us all, so authentic is its grill experience. This is most definitely one to add to the list.

Read more: Where To Eat Jiggly Japanese Cheesecake In London

Is the food at Big Easy Halal?

Big Easy don’t serve any halal chicken or meat. But they do have halal fish and vegetarian options if you’d like to visit.

Have any BBQ stories for us? Let us know on our Instagram

The Details

Big Easy, Covent Garden
Address – 12 Maiden Ln, London WC2E 7NA
Website – Shake Shack, Covent Garden
Phone – 020 4580 1173
Nearest Tube – Covent Garden

Disclaimer – the halal food status note for Big Easy is true at the time of writing. Please phone or email the restaurant before you make a booking to double check the halal food status and anything around cross contamination.

5 Comments

  • Suzy
    10 years ago

    I’ve been to the one in chelsea but wasnt impressed, it seems as if the new big easy is doing something right though, ive read loads of good reviews. pics look yum too xx Suzy

  • Rozanna
    10 years ago

    I LOVE YOUR BLOG. aghh food, so much pretty food. yes,

    • Mehreen A
      10 years ago

      Thanks!

  • Peter
    10 years ago

    Its funny how different the opinions are of the two Big Easy branches. To me, the difference must be in those chefs you mentioned from ny, I’ve been there and I dont know why but they do bbq and those kind of foods much better than we do for some reason. regardless it is good to know that I can get the good stuff here too so thanks for sharing.

    • Mehreen A
      10 years ago

      Thanks for the comment! I’ve heard the same thing although I’ve never been to the states

Leave a Comment

Leave A Comment Your email address will not be published

Editors' picks