The Big Easy

332-334, Kings Road, London

 I’m gonna let you in on a secret that will probably make you stop reading my blog. It wasn’t until a recent saturday night in chelsea that I first tried the delicacy that is lobster. I know that sounds incredibly pretentious, ‘ohhh look at me dining on lobster in chelsea, I’m so upper class’, it wasn’t as pretentious as it sounds though I promise, it was merely coincidental and the fact I constantly pick my nose and sit with my hands down my pants means I couldn’t possibly be accepted by the upper class even If I was forced through Eton for boys.

Back to the point, I suppose I’m a food blogger, I’m assuming people would brand me as that and I guess you’re right. So you’re probably thinking why the hell would I listen to a quote on quote food blogger who’s never dined on the oceans prized crustacean, the lobster. Well I just never got round to it ok, I’m from the northwest or a landlocked segment of the northwest should I say. Therefore the red little fellas aren’t particularly accessible in the area so I’ve never got round to eating them ok. Yes I understand that if you’re from Newcastle, or somewhere by the sea, that there’s loads of lobsters. That many that they probably even deliver the milk to your door, pick up litter off the streets and provide a dog walking service for you when you’re at work. I’ve not been blessed with this luxury. Plus until a couple of years ago when I decided to man up I was never really a lover seafood.

After one of my classic longwinded introductions that I feel optimises my writing style to it’s useless core, I didn’t even order the lobster. I did try a bit though and then realised I probably should have ordered it.

On this particular night I ate at The Big Easy Bar. BQ and Crabshack. Since always having an unhealthy obsession with the unhealthy food that is BBQ food, I’d known about this place and had wanted to eat there for a long time. So I was pretty excited. The vibe in this place was unreal, the transformation from being outside some posh club where prince harry is an apparent regular to walking 1 minute down the street into the big easy and being transported into what feels like a beach side bar in San Diego is pretty special. We were seated downstairs with a birds eye view of the live band that were smashing out some cheerful rock and blues covers throughout the night, could have been potentially annoying but it complimented the atmosphere perfectly. 

When it came to ordering i realised that this place was more focussed on the sea food than the BBQ, the ocean part of the menu is slightly larger. Despite this I wanted to test their BBQ meats out against the greats and went for the sharing platter which consisted of ribs, chicken, BBQ beans, cornbread and chips. I’d heard tales of men keeling over in defeat whilst trying to tackle this mountain of food. They also swore that there was pulled pork with this feast which I found confusing as there was no pulled pork on the menu (turns out the covent garden branch has a slightly different menu). Still I was there to eat what I ordered, however when it came it was less mount everest more mount snowdon. Don’t get me wrong, a quarter chicken, full rack of ribs and a bunch of sides is definitely enough, I’d just let the mythical meat tales I’d heard get to my head. 

Despite this I was impressed. Everything was drenched in a beautiful BBQ sauce, BBQ sauce is a dangerous one as it’s can easily taste very boring. Thankfully the big easy do it well, sweet, smoky, sticky; pretty much any positive adjective beginning with an S you can think of. The BBQ beans were decent but I’ve had better. The same can be said for the fries and the cornbread, which were to a high enough standard that no-one would turn up there nose at them. It has to be said though that after allowing my indecisive father to join in on the platter, it was quite clear that a two person portion of sides was brought out and blagged as being suitable for three. That was a bit of a blow, they might want to sort that out. While the men chowed down on the low and slow meats the lobsters went down excellently with the ladies. At the end of the day this place has great food, is reasonably priced and  has an amazing atmosphere. So if you’re looking for a mountain of meat or some succulent crustacean in London then look no further than The Big Easy.