Barcat is the new delightful kid on the block, it’s quirky, fun and glorious with all that jazz, if you know what I mean! A jazz bar and every bit ubiquitous, hanging lights, large windows shining all the sunny glory onto the tables and smartly dressed up waiters in waist coats welcome you to this warm den of sunshine and seductive food! A pastiche of largely European flavours, it is tempered by Modernist sensibilities; expect a certain amount of razzmatazz on your palate. The menu is a warren of melting pots and inspired dishes.The Five Spice Peanuts come first, most addictively spiced, tangy, spicy and sweet all at the same time, they will leave your palate tingling for a while. Then comes the piece de resistance, Chicken Leg Mousse which sets the tone for the rest of the afternoon. Slow roasted piquant chicken mousse is spread atop toasted crusty bread and covered in a creamy layer of Welsh Cheese, it’s firm at first but melts delicately on the tongue as we prod further. Brilliantly cooked. The Melon Melange Salad is delightfully fresh, juicy with an assortment of scooped melons and greens enrobed in a sweet balsamic dressing with goat cheese and sunflower seeds. I could eat bowls of this and not get tired! We delved into mains with a buttery Charter Pie, the toothsome fatty bits of creamy chicken get along with the sweet soft corn and onions inside the crusty flakey tart like a house on fire dotted with a red onion marmalade with a laugh salad adding a crunch to the textured dish— all making for a gorgeous mouthful.
Next up is the Grilled Chicken with a Bacon Potato Terrine, it’s as seductive on the palate as it sounds. Buttery skinned chicken grilled to a celestial perfection which makes it melt in the mouth with a velvety aftertaste basking in tremendous flavours of the lemon thyme jus and that bacon potato terrine ends up being gratuitous, given the amount of flavour these babies are packing, crunchy meaty yet soft in the center. Resembling a DTC bus by this point, stuffed beyond capacity, we soldier on to dessert.I notice the Philadelphia cheesecake and obviously go ahead and order it, cuz well, how can I not? Served with a berry compote, crimson raspberry jelly & an almond crumble it’s pliant but substantial, without being saccharine sweet and just gooey in the right way. However it was the Chocolate Hazelnut Tart that had me swooning well beyond help and what a surprise it was.
Soft, chewy chocolate in a buttery tart, surrounded by cloud blob of airy chocolate vanilla mousse. The spoonable dessert comes enrobed in a shiny chocolate glaze, with a garnish of toasted hazelnuts and, yes, more chocolate. I like to think of it as the fancy, chocolate draped dessert of your dream, each bite is a bit of manna, all the elements coming together in a symphony of sweetness that Gives way to a glorious gluttonous dark mess We finished in gratitude with a warm cup of their freshly brewed in house coffee, a stunner hot cup there.
Bar Cat is flavour of the season and extremely exciting for those who understand Food and are always on a lookout for eccentric fun and decadent food. Trust me when I say this, those flavours are going to make you go weak in the knees more than once!