Last Updated on January 27, 2026
Big Momma brings decadent glamour to Docklands
4.0 out of 5.0 starsParisian restaurant group Big Mamma has opened another of its enjoyably OTT Italian trattorias, this time in Canary Wharf. It’s hard to believe that Gloria – the group’s first venture into the London scene – only opened in 2019. Since then, others have followed, each with its own signature look and ever-more instagrammable dishes.
Barbarella is the latest addition to the Big Mamma stable, and it’s London Unattached’s Restaurant of the Month for July. We went along intrigued to see what Big Mamma had come up with this time. I’ve previously dined at Kensington’s Jacuzzi and Gloria in Shoreditch, while my companion for the evening has been to Ave Mario in Covent Garden – so lots of points to compare and contrast. As far as decor goes, we both ended up agreeing that Barbarella wins for glamour.
Barbarella is just steps away from Canary Wharf DLR and Jubilee Line stations and a few minutes walk from the new Elizabeth Line stop. It sits right on the waterfront and is perfectly placed for after-work drinks and food or combining with a visit to the shopping centre or the Museum of London Docklands (I can recommend the current Secrets of the Thames mudlarking exhibition).
A visit to a Big Mamma restaurant is as much about atmosphere, drama and decor as it is about the food and drink, if not more so. There is no sense of disappointment here. We spent a great deal of the evening coming up with different ways to sum up our surroundings. The ground floor is dominated by a giant glass light feature suspended over the square central bar. This is a world of indoor palm trees, life-sized porcelain predatory mammals, lots of marble and smoky mirrors. Big Mamma’s design intention at Barbarella is “1970s retro-futuristic escape to the glory days of Cinecittà”. I was getting Biba on Ken High Street if it was a nightclub rather than a department store, while my much younger companion was feeling Miami penthouse in the 1970s. She identified the background music as Italo-disco or Eurohouse. Sadly, there’s no dancefloor.
Barbarella has the sort of ambience that demands a visit to the cocktail menu. We started the evening with a couple of their signature mixes. I picked ‘Who Rums the World’, which contains Havana Club 3 Year rum, Aperol, homemade pineapple cordial, and lime juice. This was refreshing and citrussy but lacked the expected warm hit of rum.
My companion was meanwhile enjoying her La Grande Bellezza (Beefeater gin, basil, Nardini Acqua di Cedro liqueur, cedrata Tassoni and lemon) but also declared it curiously unboozy.
We put things right with our next choices. I went straight for that reliably heady Italian classic, the Negroni, while my companion revisited the signature cocktails. This time she went for Barbarella’s nod to Wimbledon fortnight, the Match Point Rossini (fresh strawberry purée, St-Germain elderflower liqueur, Champagne and orange foam). She described it as an alcoholic version of strawberries and cream or even Haribo Giant Strawbs (I did not know such things existed, but this is apparently a compliment).
Having both experienced and been defeated by Big Mamma’s big portion sizes on previous visits to their restaurants, we vowed to resist over-ordering and to share everything. We started off with a salad, knowing we would be facing an onslaught of carbs later in the meal. That said, we couldn’t resist pairing our Insalata di Zucchine e Caprino with Barbarella’s moreish and warm La Vera Focaccia Romana.
We enjoyed the fresh, summery salad, which combines grilled courgette, robiola cheese and garlicky focaccia croutons with crispy lettuce, all topped with walnuts and citronette dressing.
Then it was on to our full-on pizza and pasta feast. We were full of self-congratulation for controlling ourselves at the antipasti stage as a large beast of a pizza arrived alongside a generous plate of pasta.
In my book, the combination of aubergine, tomatoes and cheese is one of life’s great pleasures. Barbarella’s Paccheri alla Norma combines all of these elements with the thick-cut paccheri pasta: a San Marzano tomato sauce and fried aubergine, served on a bed of fresh ricotta al limone, topped with grated ricotta salata. We particularly like the lemony ricotta base, but longed for more aubergine.
There’s a long list of Neapolitan pizzas available, including several daily specials. We went for Barbarella’s version of that old classic “ham and mushroom”, here more enticingly named the Prosciutto Cotto, Funghi e Stracciatella. We made impressive inroads into this huge pizza with its lashings of toppings including ricotta, sautéed mushrooms, prosciutto cotto, mozzarella fior di latte and stracciatella.
And then we were onto the dessert menu and quickly settled on the Pistachio Profiterole Napoletana. Now this was the culinary star of the evening. As our waiter tipped a large copper pan of hot, dark chocolate sauce over a single giant profiterole, we knew we had been right to only order one dessert. The home-made cracquelin-topped choux was packed inside with gelato al pistacchio as well as pistacchio spread. One small gripe: Barbarella, for some reason, serves their giant dessert with giant spoons. We decided they were too big for the average female mouth and would have preferred teaspoons.
A trip upstairs reveals a lounge area, with views over the water and most vitally a mirrored ceiling.
Barbarella is a welcome new addition to Docklands, bringing with it a welcome touch of louche craziness to the area. The food and drink offering won’t hold any surprises for Big Mamma regulars – newcomers can expect big portions of decent Italian food, good service and a big dose of atmosphere.
Unit 3, YY
30 South Colonnade
Canary Wharf
Docklands
London E14 5HX
Other new restaurant openings
London Unattached is keeping an eye on a couple of other new restaurants that are opening their doors this July.
Pintxito
34 The Market, Covent Garden Piazza, WC2E 8RF
Part of the Camino Group, Pintxito is a new bar under the arches of Covent Garden Piazza with food and drink inspired by the Basque Country. There’ll be a changing menu of 15-20 hot and cold pintxos and an exclusively Basque drinks list.
Brasserie Constance
Fulham Pier, Stevenage Road, Fulham SW6 6HH
Meanwhile, over at the new Fulham Pier development on the banks of the Thames, there is a new neighbourhood restaurant, Brasserie Constance, which will be serving seasonal modern British dishes curated by Michelin-star chef Adam Byatt. We love Trinity and are looking forward to trying this one out!
Check our reviews of Jacuzzi on High Street Kensington, of Gloria in Shoreditch and of Marylebone Big Mamma favourite Carlotta
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