The US barbecue trend has brought with it much tiresome posturing, but this restaurant feels like the real deal
Shotgun, 26 Kingly Street, London W1 (020 3137 7252). Meal for two, including drinks and service: £80
In the modern age of flash and bravura, every new restaurant must have its Instagrammable dish; that food item which, like Prufrock’s patient etherised upon a table, is designed to be held forever in a pixilated, electronic glow. And here it comes at Shotgun. It’s listed as pig’s ear and sour pancakes, and that’s exactly what it is: a whole pig’s ear, complete with the mechanics for joining it to the skull, alongside soft lacy folded pancakes, like antimacassars that have been tidied away. The ear is so anatomically intact that it looks like the plate has been genetically modified to listen into your conversation.
The Boston butt is a revelation – lightly vinegared meat lubricated by pearls of warm piggy fat
Continue reading...