In order to eat at the for­mer site of Pitt Cue restau­rant just off Carn­a­by Street, din­ers had to queue in the street, some­times for hours. The reward was a cov­et­ed place down­stairs in the 5‑table poky cel­lar space, or perched at the cosy bar upstairs.

The rea­son peo­ple were pre­pared to wait was due to the impec­ca­bly sourced pro­duce, bar­be­cued meats and inven­tive bar. Menu items includ­ed smoked Man­gal­itza pig from the own­ers’ farm in Corn­wall, home-made flat sour­dough bread filled with a pud­dle of drip­ping, and mon­ster smoked beef ribs, mar­i­nat­ed till the meat lifts in sweet hunks off the bone. On the sub­ject of prove­nance, the own­ers of Pitt Cue want­ed to find an alter­na­tive to the pork we most­ly con­sume today, which is bred to be lean. This inevitably comes at the expense of taste, and this jour­ney of dis­cov­ery lead to them find­ing Man­gal­itza pigs which have far more fat, and plen­ty of mar­bling to ensure ten­der­ness and a won­der­ful taste.

For 2016, Pitt Cue has relo­cat­ed to a huge space, fit for the city-meets-hip­ster area of Liv­er­pool St. The week-long soft launch has been packed out. The old Pitt Cue had a cramped kitchen where only three could work in com­fort, where­as the new place has a shiny, effi­cient engine room open to the din­ers; behind a bar, you can see the chefs bob­bing about, cook­ing the meat on a fear­some beast of a grill (pic­tured above) – I stood with the chefs next to the grill for bare­ly a minute and the heat it gives off is intense.

The bar is a par­adise for bour­bon and mez­cal lovers and the move has allowed them to expand their rum col­lec­tion too, plus offer a seri­ous wine list. I tried the Mez­cal Mule, a per­fect­ly bal­anced mix of mez­cal and gin­ger with lime. So refresh­ing is this com­bo I could have con­tin­ued chuck­ing it down my throat with aban­don, thank­ful­ly I did­n’t as three of the bug­gers pro­duced a hang­over, but then I am a light­weight, and of such an age I am appar­ent­ly no longer able to process alco­hol efficiently.

“Drip­ping bread to share” was the first item to arrive at our table: a whole, round, trea­cly loaf with a coat­ing of meat juice drib­bled over like icing on a bun, and served with home-made but­ter. Rab­bit broth came next, a del­i­cate-look­ing clear soup dot­ted with a few colour­ful morsels of veg­eta­bles. The soup tast­ed con­cen­trat­ed and robust, and the bread was accom­pa­nied by a rab­bit paté so light to be almost foamy.

Next came two del­i­cate discs of home made sausage, topped with shav­ings of fresh veg­eta­bles: sweet­bread with cele­ri­ac and – my favourite – chick­en and cep which had an ori­en­tal flavour.

Our mains were Man­gal­itza loin chop, a big chunk of pork cov­ered in sweet onions, and smoked beef neck which I pre­ferred as it had a denser flavour. Accom­pa­ny­ing the beef is a piece of bread which has been left under the grill to soak up all the smoky beef juices.

To accom­pa­ny the meat feast we had: grilled car­rot, soured cream and wal­nut; mush­room and bone mar­row mash; and grilled kraut and smoked eel cream – this lat­ter veg­etable I found too vine­gary-sharp in taste. No sur­prise we were too full to try one of the desserts and I did want to try Rarebit, or Lardy Cake Mar­malade & Ice Cream..

Although I was fond of the ram­shackle quirk­i­ness of the for­mer site, this move was inevitable. The new Pitt Cue feels like a prop­er grown-up restau­rant with room to accom­mo­date all those peo­ple who used to end up queu­ing in the street for hours, and it’s a chance for the own­ers and chefs to make the most of their ‘real food’ phi­los­o­phy and sense of adven­ture. I’ll be going again, but leav­ing room for dessert next time.

Pitt Cue, 1 The Avenue, Devonshire Square, London EC2M 4YP.