London Wall Bar & Kitchen / Barbican

Who are they?

The London Wall Bar and Kitchen is an unassuming little bar and gastro pub nestled in the Barbican high walk opposite the Museum of London. It’s also worth mentioning that as I work only a few doors down from this place, so it seemed a no-brainer to take a look at their burger offerings on a sunny Friday afternoon.

Thoughts

The London Wall is one of those places that never seems incredibly busy but always has people coming and going for lunch or a drink after work, so it's a wonder that it keeps going at all. They had long displayed their burger offerings on a sandwich board outside the venue, so after putting it off for quite so long it was good to see whether they were up to snuff.

The burger on offer is a beef rib burger, complete with a simple salad of lettuce and tomato and encased within a customary brioche bun. Pair it with rustic mini bucket of fries and it's good to go. Interestingly, their burger comes with something they call bacon jam, which I found to be some kind of a bacon and tomato relish. It’s nice to see an establishment offering something a little different from the norm, although it’s a shame that standard items like bacon and cheese are additional extras here; the more observant of you may notice that I opted for the cheese.

Despite asking for my burger to be medium cooked, it looked pretty well done when I received it and pretty similar to that of a medium rare burger that a fellow diner had. It was this that probably accounted for the slightly crispy taste to the burger, though this did not diminish the slightly smokey taste that had been imparted to the burger when cooked. The burger also benefited from being made of shredded beef rib and then only lightly seasoned, combining the two into a pretty solid patty, packed with meat-flavoured goodness. The cheese, a mature cheddar, compliments the meat, whilst the bacon jam was lost among the other ingredients  - either not enough of it, too much of everything else or an excuse to go back for another.

While attention has been lavished on the main attraction, it's a shame that the same cannot be said on the sides. Unfortunately my chips were served lukewarm and were clearly the sort of catering-grade thin cut fries, though at least they are cooked to leave them slightly crispy on the outside. Definitely good enough for a pub lunch on a work day though!

Conclusion

A surprisingly good effort from a place only a few steps from my office. It's quite easy to do better (and probably cheaper as well), but this is certainly better than the average that you can find around the Barbican.

Score

7/10

Where can I find them?

http://www.londonwallbarandkitchen.com/

A short walk from Barbican or St. Pauls tube stations