Best BBQs in London

When our earliest ancestors discovered that meat plus fire equals delicious, they were really on to something. Several millennia down the line, this time-honoured culinary equation still stands — in fact, you could say grills have never been hotter.

Smart restaurants all over town are putting the grill and showmanship of the chefs who know how to work it at centre stage. Whether you fancy a Japanese robata, an Argentine parilla or just a good old-fashioned flame-grilled steak, here's where to go for a bit of a sizzle.

Roka
A Japanese robata grill is at the heart of Charlotte Street's Roka, the Fitzrovia sibling to Knightsbridge's celeb-infested Zuma. Grab a ringside seat around the central charcoal grill, where a team of skilled chefs tend the coals.
The menu of robatayaki cuisine is extensive, with stand-outs such as black cod in miso (£22.60) gaining a sticky, moreish new dimension over the flames and lamb cutlets with fiery Korean spices (£18.90) now something of a Roka signature.
Those who still have an expense account should make the most of it with Wagyu beef (£68). Packed to the gills day and night, Roka is a fave of the capital's chefs, often to be spotted chowing down on yakitori on a rare day off.
Roka, 37 Charlotte Street, W1, 020 7580 6464

Mangal Ocakbasi
If you thought kebabs were slivers of meat shaved off an elephant's leg, then it's high time you tried Dalston's Mangal Ocakbasi. Though Kingsland Road and Green Lanes, the arteries of London's Turkish community, are lined with barbecue restaurants (ocakbasi) only one has a following you'd call cult.

Located down an unlikely narrow side street opposite the Arcola Theatre, Mangal Ocakbasi is a scruffy little BYO spot with no menu to speak of — just select the meat you fancy from the chiller and see it expertly grilled over the coals. We've never known a duff dish, and can highly recommend anything on the bone, say quail (£8) or lamb spare ribs (£7.50), if only for the simple caveman joy of getting your hands dirty. Home-made bread and a tomato salad set it off perfectly.
Mangal Ocakbasi, 10 Arcola Street, E8, 020 7275 8981

Cinnamon Kitchen
City newcomer Cinnamon Kitchen is the chilled-out, trendy younger sibling of the Cinnamon Club in Westminster. The converted warehouse, in the Devonshire Place development by Liverpool Street is home to a bar, restaurant and alfresco terrace, but it's the Indian tandoor bar that mostly appeals to us.

Acclaimed chef Vivek Singh has dreamed up an enticing menu. Highlights include chargrilled fruit skewers (£5), grilled fat chillies stuffed with Hyderabadi mince, (also £5) and plump, wild African prawns, £12. The grill tasting menu at £40 runs from simple home-made breads to contemporary dishes such as grilled salmon with green pea relish.
Cinnamon Kitchen, 9 Devonshire Square, EC2, 020 7626 5000

Buen Ayre
Chef John Patrick Rattagan, keeper of the flames at the country's first authentic Argentine grill Buen Ayre, got to grips with the surprising complexity of the asado while growing up in Buenos Aires. Deftly turning the man-size steaks (from £16) and sausages (£8) on the grill, he makes it look easy, but as each cut of meat requires different temperatures and timing, it takes a sure touch to get it spot on.

Seasoned regulars can get stuck in with their own baby parrillada (brazier) to share at the table, from £16.50 per person. The Buen Ayre parrillada is a regular meat feast, replete as it is with sausage, black pudding, kidney, short rib and flank steak. Add a side of devilishly good chips with garlic and parsley (£5), some chimichurri sauce and a beefy Argentine red, and you're sorted.
Buen Ayre, 50 Broadway Market, E8, 020 7275 9900

Awana
In Malaysia, home of satay, it's usual to tot up the bill by counting the number of empty skewers left over once you're done snacking. At smart Chelsea Malaysian restaurant, Awana, the prices —– more Sloane Street than street food —– might make for skewer stacks somewhat smaller than at the hawker centre in Penang but no matter, satay Chelsea-style is a blast and goes delightfully well with a cocktail or three.

Take a pew at the glossy satay bar and watch the chef at work as he whips up delicious fresh roti flatbreads and grills skewer after skewer of corn-fed chicken (£8), fresh tiger prawns or diver-caught scallops (both £9.50) with the traditional accompaniments of rice, cucumber and spicy peanut sauce. Veggies needn't miss out — the grill works wonders on tofu and tomato, or eggplant and mushroom (both £7.50).
Awana, 85 Sloane Avenue, SW3, 020 7584 8880