Cue Point has been one of London’s best-loved (and most nomadic) eateries for a decade. BBQ pros Mursal Saiq and Joshua Moroney have trucked all over town, from Walworth’s Orbit Brewery through to a recent stint off Brick Lane, but have seemingly now found their forever home at the heroically spacious Notting Hill boozer Garden Bar & Grill.
So good it almost makes you want to laugh
Less a pub and potentially one of west London’s largest private parks, the sprawling outdoor space feels halfway between Frances Hodgson Burnett’s twee Secret Garden and Steptoe and Son’s chaotic salvage yard. In other words, it’s the ideal location in which to devour this acutely honed and brilliantly over-the-top Afghan-spiked and technically Texan feasting menu. This is food that needs room.
Outside of Meatopia’s annual flesh fest, perfect pitmastery still isn’t usually associated with London, and but Cue Point buck the trend, with Moroney bringing his skills from time as head chef at Smokestak and Saiq her Afghan heritage; she spent her childhood there before her family fled the wartorn country for Mumbai and then the UK. With their giant smoker casually resting in a corner and flames licking the side of an adjacent grill, serious BBQ business is Cue Point’s thing. Their small plates are anything but; fist-sized brisket burnt end skewers are super sturdy, soft meat trembling under a dark, crumbly bark, and bookended with thick pickles. Black lime pepper chicken bites are elite nuggets, with a crumbly exterior and soft inner meat, while hunks of burnt tuna ceviche are chunky in size and delicate in flavour. A single juicy chicken torshi skewer, loaded with pert pickled cauliflower and chillis, is a full meal in itself.
But the real deal is the Wagyu brisket steak. A non-negotiable order, it’s maybe the best barbeque we’ve ever eaten on UK soil. Soft to the point of melting off the plate and oozing down Latimer Road, it’s not just the texture, but the smokey, almost creamy taste of the meat that makes a choir of invisible angels start singing. So good it almost makes you want to laugh. It comes served with Cue Point’s trademark Texas naan, a sturdy chunk of bread that we all but ignore in favour of the meat, and a pool of silky, spiced cowboy butter. An oak-smoked lamb shank, on a platter of Kabuli pilau is just as intriguing, with the sweet, perfumed rice providing a more delicate supporting act for the meat than the bread.
Did we then need the Texas roadhouse salad with live-fire madras chicken? No. Did we want it? Wholeheartedly. A true American salad, in that any health benefits of foliage were immediately outweighed by a heavy layer of cheese, thick creamy dressing and torched meat. Of course, what the Americans know is that this makes a salad five times more delicious.
Cue Point then, still very much on point.
The vibe Al fresco eating in one of west London’s biggest beer gardens.
The food Halal-friendly Afghan-British BBQ with vegan options, too.
The drink It’s a pub, so get stuck into your normal pints routine. Beer and BBQ is a classic combo for a reason.
Time Out tip If you only order one thing, make it the Wagyu brisket steak.