about us
Welcome to the dragon flame bbq
The Dragon Flame was founded in 2021 by Georgi and Diotima, a husband-and-wife team who have spent their careers cooking over live fire.
Georgi grew up cooking over fire. It is something he has done his whole life, passed down from an early age. He started his professional chef career in 2008 and spent years working across London restaurants, cooking in a wide variety of styles. But live-fire cooking was always where he felt most at home. Eventually, he decided to stop working for other people and start sharing that passion properly. He has not stopped creating new dishes and sauces since the day The Dragon Flame opened.
Diotima started her chef career in 2012, also working across London restaurants. She went on to become a head butcher and grill chef in an open-fire kitchen in Soho, bringing a level of knowledge about meat preparation that very few chefs can match.
Together, they built The Dragon Flame BBQ on three values: quality, creativity, and consistency. As Georgi puts it: if the meat is prepped right, it will be cooked perfect.
Orbit
Open: Wednesday – Sunday
London, SE17 3HJ
The Star
Open: Tuesday – Sunday
London, E5 8NN
The Heathcoat & Star
Open: Monday – Sunday
London, E11 4EA
How We Cook
Everything at The Dragon Flame is cooked over live fire. We use two offset smokers, including a 250-gallon smoker built on a trailer, as well as our own unique handmade BBQ rotisserie, designed by Georgi alongside a close friend. It holds six to eight whole rolled pork bellies at a time and is the engine behind our most popular dish.
For smoking, we use natural oak logs and oak whiskey barrel. The smoking process is not something you can learn from a book. Every smoker behaves differently, and every piece of meat needs its own time and temperature to reach that perfect point. It takes experience, patience, and a lot of attention.
Every cut is butchered in-house and treated with care. We use our own brine recipes, original rubs and spices that draw on South American, Texas and Asian flavours. The result is that deep, charred, smoky flavour that people keep coming back for.
Our Meat
Since we opened, our main meat supplier has been Taste Tradition, a specialist supplier working with rare-breed cattle and pig farmers in North Yorkshire. Their meat is delivered fresh to London and is as good as it gets.
All their products are dry-aged in a dedicated maturation room using Himalayan rock salt to help the process along. Dry ageing is a method of transforming the flavour and texture of meat in a controlled environment. As the moisture draws out and the muscles relax, you are left with a more tender, more flavourful piece of meat. It makes a real difference, and you can taste it.
What We Offer
Smoked Meat
BBQ Pork Rotisserie
Fusion BBQ
Expert Seasoning
Argentine Grill
What People Think!
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Orbit
London, SE17 3HJ
Open: Wednesday to Sunday
🔥 Live fire cooking & grillsThe Star by Hackney Downs
London, E5 8NN
Open: Tuesday to Sunday
The Heathcoat & Star
London, E11 4EA
Open: Monday to Sunday