Hawksmoor
I was given the task of choosing a restaurant to take my colleagues out for a celebratory meal. I work with a diverse group of people and all my exotic suggestions were shot down. Then we got talking about steak so we had a bit of google for the best steak in London and Hawksmoor kept coming up. It seemed a bit pricey but since the company was paying we decided to give it a try.
From the outside Hawksmoor doesn’t look that special, it’s on a busy road and when we were there major construction work was taking place next door. However inside it is nice, clean, although not as big as I expected, in a good way. The decor is simple and has the classic Shoreditch look of exposed brick walls with a semi-industrial feel.
photo from cowfish on flickr
There is a bar along one wall where apparently they do amazing cocktails. Unfortunately I didn’t get a chance to try any but reading reviews on their site and online it seems like it may be worth a visit just for the drinks. I’m not 100% sure but I think you can just go to the bar with out eating at the restaurant.
Hawksmoor is all about the steak. There are a couple of other options for any steak haters on the menu but that would be like going to Dublin and not having a pint of Guinness. Hawksmoor state they have travelled the world looking for the best steak and decided that it comes from cows reared in England. Personally I am not sure about that, however I do agree that where possibly local produce should be used and there is no reason why English steak cannot taste great.
There are a lot of cuts to choose from and most of the prices are in the menu as per kilogram. When they come to take your order they tell you what weights they have available that day. The first few went for rib eyes and sirloins, I went for a Porterhouse and a big one at 800g, the other option was 850g. At £12 per 100g that’s a £96 steak (although I thought it was £6 per 100g at the time). As recommended by the waitress I had it cooked medium rare. One of the things that drives me crazy about Gauchos is that they don’t give you steak knives because there steaks “are so tender you don’t need them”, absolute rubbish and I was very happy when the waitress placed so nice sharp steak knives on the table.
When my plate came out I was glad we decided not to go for starters, it was massive! With my boss and others looking on there was no way I was going to leave a scrap of meat on the plate. The porterhouse is a T-Bone steak cut from the rear end of the short loin and contain a much larger section of the tenderloin than a typical T-Bone and the other side of the ‘T’ is strip loin. I started out on the tenderloin side of the ‘T’ and it was so tender, melted like butter in my mouth. I munched my way through the whole steak leaving little behind. Even though it was such a massive piece of meat I enjoyed every bite and even had some room for some triple cooked chips at the end.
My 800g Porterhouse steak (iphone pic, sorry)
Others at the table went for the surf ‘n turf that consisted of a 300g Fillet and half a lobster. That looked really good and next time I go there I may have to go for that. All other meats went down very well with the table and the general consensus was that these were some of the finest steaks we had ever eaten.
The wine list while impressive isn’t cheap, on other tables where the more expensive bottles were being ordered I could see the staff decanting the wine. On ours however we went for the Cotes du Rhone Villages 2004 at £27 a bottle. I have to say it was a very nice wine however I think next time I would like to push the boat out and go for something a bit fancier.
Amazingly people had room for desert at the end of the meal. It was one of those classic moments where I couldn’t have eaten another piece of meat but had plenty of room for something sweet to close the meal. I ended up sharing a chocolate fudge sundae, it would have been too much for one but was perfect between about three of us although I think everyone got there spoon in there at some stage.
Overall it was a great evening out. We were looking for somewhere that provided a bit more occasion than just another restaurant without been too formal and pretentious and Hawksmoor delivered. It’s not cheap and people may argue that you can get comparable steaks elsewhere for half the price. But if you fancy a good night out with great food and a comfortable atmosphere I highly recommend Hawksmoor. I will definitely be back, and next time I will have a few cocktails at the bar before.
