Santa Maria del Sur (Ramsay's The F Word 2009 semi-finalists), 129 Queenstown Road, London SW8 3RH (Clapham)

My folks love steak, they really do. So much so that when the husband and I were about to go to New York for a short holiday, we were sent YouTube videos of Peter Luger's steak house in a bid to convince us to try it out. Not that we needed much convincing, as by then, all the stuff I'd heard about the place had deemed it try-worthy. You can read about it here.

In the UK, I've tried to find something similar and despite trying out Gaucho Grill (here - so so), and Hawksmoor (here - poor service and expensive), I've not managed to find anything really which could match up to the Luger steaks.



So, when my folks were in the UK for the wedding (which wedding? Yes, my wedding), we decided to take them to try out the Argentinian steak house featured on Gordon Ramsay's Best Restaurants.



Apparently, at the time the programme was showing, there was a 3 month waiting list for bookings. I guess things have calmed down since then, as the restaurant was near empty when we went in there one sunny Saturday afternoon, for our 2pm booking.



The restaurant has a very summery, relaxed, Southern American feel to it, not that I've been to South America before, but I do Google a lot.



Walking in on that warm afternoon, with the smell of barbeque in the air, I felt like kicking off the sandals and having a snooze by the wooden windows which had been left open to let the breeze in. The vibrant red/orange walls made the place feel all carnival-like, what's not to love about this place?

Bizarrely enough, when we went there at 2pm, there was one table of diners, merrily eating and having a nice time. Then, we came in to add to the noise. By the time we were leaving, the place was almost full again, and that was about 4pm. Is it trendy in Clapham to begin eating at 4pm?



Anyhow, it helped that the place wasn't heaving as that meant the waiting staff had plenty of time to muck about with us. The gorgeous girls were friendly and more than happy to explain everything on the menu to us, while the grinning chefs happily allowed me into their kitchen to snap away at the barbeque.

Inside joke: Oh, and the cab driver was very stylish too.

(Since I've been really lazy about blogging, and am only writing about this a good 2 weeks after having had it, I am having some issues figuring out what we ordered. So, descriptions of what they are may not be the most accurate, but trust me on the taste.)

Steaks on the grill, lovely whiff of summery barbeque in the air

The Chimichurri sauce that was meant for the steak, but which went really well with the bread

Bife de chorizo con guarnición £22.00 (14oz grilled prime Argentine Sirloin steak)

The husband ordered this with quantity in mind. Guess he wanted the whole chunk of meat to himself, but I managed to get a few mouthfuls and found it to be quite good too. I'm not a steak connoisseur by any means, and definitely would fail a steak-identification test, but from what I could tell, there was a slight bit more fat on his steak than on the fillet steak, and the grain on the meat was slightly coarser too. Taste-wise, not much difference, not to me anyway.



Bife de lomo £23.00 (10oz grilled Argentine Fillet steak)

This was by far the best item we ordered. On the plate, it doesn't look like much. To be honest, it looks like a big chunk of overcooked meat, but inside, the meat was rare rare rare, just the way I asked for it to be cooked. Each mouthful was soft, juicy and succulent. The grain of the meat was fine to the point of being like silk, and all of us who had a bite declared this the best item on the table. For the price, it's definitely worth ordering this if you're here, and if you like your steak pretty much fat-free.



11oz grilled Argentine Rib-eye steak

Chorizo £3.00 (Argentine-style sausage)

We ordered this as a side dish, and I pretty much ate it all as the others were concentrating on their steaks. Chunky and flavourfully spiced, I had it with some of the grilled vegetables and it went as a nice accompaniment to the steak.

The fillet steak ...

More fillet steak

Bife ancho £19.00 (11oz grilled Argentine Rib-eye steak)

OK it doesn't take a genius to figure out that this one has the most fat in it, which made it more flavourful too. I'm thinking we should have asked for it to be charred a little more, but it was alright as it was too. Just a bit of Wikipedia and I get all chef-like. Like I said, I can't really talk too much about steak so hopefully, if you're thinking of trying this place out, you'll let the pictures do the talking.

Finally, the chips which we shared, and with good reason too. The portion was huge, and I really loved the fact that they were thick cut chips, so managed to maintain the crisp on the outside, fluffy on the inside thing just perfectly.

We really enjoyed ourselves here, and considering the reasonable prices for really good quality meat, not to mention the very friendly and accommodating service we received, I'd gladly make a return visit to this restaurant.

Hawksmoor (Spitalfields), 157 Commercial St., London, E1 6BJ

This is perhaps the quickest I’ve ever blogged about a restaurant between when I’ve eaten there, and posted about it. We went here for lunch today, about 3 hours ago, and because I was so annoyed about the service we received, I decided I’d blog about it right now, while I’m still annoyed.



But before you go thinking that I’m letting my annoyance cloud my judgment about the food, let me say now that the food was good. Good along the lines of perhaps being one of the best steaks I’ve had in London, but that’s not saying a lot because the only other steak I’d had in London was from Gaucho’s.

This is not a patch on Peter Luger’s in New York though. Not in terms of food, and definitely not even in the same league (like waaaaaaay in the next league, even) in terms of service.



OK, you should know that I’m not the kind of diner who usually places much importance on service. Like I’ve said many times before, I don’t care if the waiting staff don’t smile when they bring the food, if they just take the order and then come back with the food – no, I don’t care about them not smiling as long as they are efficient, and not rude. Being disinterested is fine by me.



The waiting staff here are rude though. Rude to the point where they made me think I was not good enough to be dining there. Rude enough to make me think that they were being disdainful of my friends and I. Rude to the point where I had to come back and blog about this right now.



My first thought that was maybe it was something we did. Were we being too loud? Disturbing the other diners? Asking too many questions? No, I don’t think we did anything out of the ordinary. However, the service we got was probably the rudest I’ve had from a London restaurant. And that’s saying something.



It was hard enough figuring out who was a waiter there to begin with. They’re dressed casually like how you’d dress if you were slouching around watching telly on a weekend. We only began to identify who was working there by the number of times we saw them go by our table, and even then, it was quite hard getting their attention because not only did they choose to ignore us quite a few times as we tried to make eye contact, but when they came over, it was with the attitude of a sulky teenager who’d been interrupted from doing what they do best – hanging around sulking.



Sulking’s still fine, I guess. But when we asked one of them to suggest how much we should order since we were going to share the bigger cuts between us, the explanation was delivered as though we were receiving a telling off. Seriously, hey, we’re full-price paying guests, not even using a voucher or anything. Chill out with the sulky attitude.



Peppercorn sauce

They (and I use the term collectively because all of them were remarkably consistent in how sulky there were) took our orders as though they were doing us a favour, then told us it would be a half hour wait for the food to be served.

Half an hour?



There were about 5 other tables there, and this was 3.30pm on a Saturday afternoon. I know we asked for our steaks medium rare, but we only ordered 2 huge pieces to be shared so how long did it take to cook those pieces of steak? We waited and waited, talked until we ran out of conversational topics, pondered on why it was taking so long, and still, no steak.

When the food finally arrived, I was actually scared to ask the waiter for anything. Call it classical conditioning, or plain cowardice, but I’d been trained in the 1 hour that I’d been sitting there not to ask them for anything. The less we had to disturb them from their sulking, the better.

But enough ranting. Now on to the food.



We ordered 900g of the Porterhouse (£6.50 per 100g), and asked for it to be served medium rare. Because the piece of meat was quite big, some slices were nice and pink (the ones closer to the bone) while the ones nearer the edges were understandably more towards the well-done end of the scale.



This suited us just fine as one of our group preferred it more cooked anyway, so with a bit of sharing and caring, we divided the pieces between us just fine.



We also ordered the 1.1kg Bone-in Prime Rib (£6.50 per 100g) which again, was cooked to a lovely shade of pink with really great bits of crispy fat here and there, and the flavour and quality of this piece of meat was almost faultless.



Juicy and tender, with just the right amount of charred edges.



One of our friends ordered the 400g Rib-Eye (£26) which seemed to be the best value in terms of how much meat you got for the price. He ordered it medium-rare also, but I only managed to take a picture of the steak before it was eaten, so I can’t really show you what the inside of the meat was like. He enjoyed it lots though, so I’m sure it must have been cooked alright.



To accompany the steaks, we ordered 4 portions of Triple Cooked Chips (£4 a portion) to be shared between us, and to me, this was perhaps the best order of the meal. I’ve not had triple cooked chips before, and I’m not sure what the triple cooking does to it, but I know that this was the best tasting chips I’ve had so far. Not only were they perfectly crispy on the outside, but the inside managed to be slightly mushy and yet firm. Slathered in the peppercorn sauce, mustard and ketchup, this was absolutely amazing.



Bone Marrow Sauce

We also ordered the Peppercorn Sauce and the Bone Marrow Gravy (£2 a sauce) just to add on to the flavour, though the steaks would have tasted just fine as they were.



Being completely unbiased, and completely disregarding the rubbish service, my conclusion of the food here is this.

1. It is one of the more expensive steak places I’ve been to in London, but all the prices are displayed on the menu so if you’re not up for paying big bucks for a piece of steak, you could always order something to be shared, just to have a taste of it.



2. The quality of the beef served here is very good. Despite some of the pieces being served almost well-done (we asked for it medium rare), those pieces were still tender and juicy without any stringiness to it.

3. The chips are perhaps the best chips I’ve ever had. It’s £4 a portion, but it’s worth it.

A few people have recommended this place to us, and none of them mentioned anything about the service being of that standard. I think it’s probably because those people who liked it came with a group of people from work, and maybe the waiting staff here treat those office group types better, because they order more? I don’t know, but I certainly felt that there was plenty of room for improvement.

Finally, you would’ve thought that with the rubbish service we received, we would’ve shown our displeasure by withholding the 12.5% optional service charge they put on the bill. But no. We paid it. Why? Well, we did consider asking them to take it off just to show them what we thought of their service but in the end, I chickened out and decided to pay it anyway. I just couldn’t picture us creating a scene there with the explanation of why we thought the service was below par, how we’d then probably have to talk to the manager about it, and to be honest, those waiters were quite intimidating and I don’t think I would’ve wanted a confrontation with them …



In my opinion, it’s a place that I would’ve liked to have tried once just to see what the fuss is all about, but having tried it, it is unlikely that we’ll be making another visit to the restaurant, least of all the one in Spitalfields. I didn’t feel welcomed there, and I’m sure that with a bit of searching, I’ll find another place with equally as good food, and with waiters to treat their diners with a lot more appreciation. We are, after all, the ones who pay the bill.

Gaucho Grill, Piccadilly, 25 Swallow Street, London W1B 4QR

A few weeks back, we were walking down Regent Street when I saw the cow patches decor of Gaucho’s in the side street, so I hopped up to the restaurant, walked in as though I was a diner, looked around and then came out again. Just to kinda check out what the place looked like, seeing as I’d never been in there before.

Then, on my birthday, the bf decided to take me for a surprise dinner to the very same Gaucho’s, so this time, I didn’t have to pretend that I was going into the place. Once we got into the restaurant, the first thing we did was stop for a bit. Walking in from the bright evening to the almost pitch black darkness of the reception area (and the whole restaurant), I felt slightly disorientated, and had a hard time trying to focus on the lady who was asking us for the booking reference.

That done, the nice lady offered to take our coats, and that’s when we knew this was an expensive sorta place. Now, digressing slightly from the dining experience, I just wanted to give my worthless opinion on the layout of the restaurant. The entire ground floor of the restaurant was dedicated almost to reception (and perhaps some background area which we didn’t see). They could fit so much more diners if they used the area, but perhaps that’s my quantity-over-quality flaw coming out again.

(Cow skin and leather-style decor does actually work in making me want steak … )

After being shown to the table (right by the grill where the pieces of meat were just dancing tantalisingly at us), the nice waiter (Daniel) brought us a heavy plate of bread (the plate was heavy, not the bread). The little balls on the right were bread of unidentifiable origins, and even though they were awfully hard to eat (not with fingers, nor with bread knife), once we got into the middle of the bread, it was awesome.

The bread has little chewy, caramelisey bits which went really well with the olive oil, herb and chilli mixture served up with the bread.

Daniel then brought us the menu while we chewed on the bread, and while I contemplated the prices on the menu, the free bread tasted better by the minute. On average, a piece of cow meat (of very high quality), is about 25 squiggly quid (or £25) and that’s for the smaller, bottom-of-the-range ones.

The famed meat-tray which I heard lots about from other people who’d dined here before. Writing this now, I can’t really remember which one is what, but I went for the fillet steak (small portion) and the bf went for the fillet steak (big portion). 

We were sat next to the kitchen so I kept sneaking looks at the plates being brought out of the place, and by the time we got our food, I’d been watching these 2 guys debate the best way to cut the meat for about 10 minutes. That a lotta time spent discussing how to cut meat up, but hey, I guess that’s why they do it so well here.

The Goldilocks scale of steak – here is the little one for me. Yes, that was the only thing on the plate – the sides are served … on the side. Now it may LOOK small, but it sure didn’t taste small. It took me a good twenty minutes to make my way through this lean, beautiful piece of steak, and I felt satisfyingly full and proteined up by the time I’d eaten it all.

The Mr. Big of the steak world. That was a chunk of steak and a half. I don’t really know how the bf managed to devour his way through that massive piece of pure meat, but he did, and he enjoyed every bite of it.

The meat was very fresh, and as we’d asked for it rare, each piece was tender, pink, and so meaty.

For the sides, we decided to stick with Tried and Tested, otherwise known as Fries. Someone said that the fries here are coated in some spice or something, and while we couldn’t figure out what that was, it tasted sweet and very delicious, definitely better than a lot of other fries we’ve had.

After the meal, we brisk-walked over to the theatre for Les Mis (one of London’s finest musicals, but probably not one of the cheeriest). Had a great time there, and was particularly amused when half the audience left the theatre during half-time (or whatever it’s called) and didn’t come back, as the curtains just kinda went down, the lights came on, and no one announced the fact that it was the interval, so these people thought that the play had come to an end, and just left. 

Then, after all that food and music, what better way to round it up than with some posh-nosh-chocs. Really lovely, enjoyed it all, and despite this being a kinda few months delayed (the post, that is), thanks to the bf for a very enjoyable b’day dinner and night out.

New York eats – Peter Luger, 178 Broadway Brooklyn, N.Y. 11211

May I begin by saying:

This is the best steak house in the world.

I started this blog when I realised that I seemed to remember what I ate better than what I did. Whenever someone asked me what I did or where I went, I’d struggle to sometimes come up with the details, but ask me what I had to eat one day last week and I could probably dredge up the most boring, delicious detail from the menu to the price. So, I thought, what better way to keep a picture journal than with food pictures.

I also wanted to let people know what I ate, and never more so than for this place. Now, when we told family and friends that we were going to New York, we were told, yep, told to go to Peter Luger’s. We were then showed a YouTube video of Peter Luger’s, and which steak house has a YouTube video? (maybe quite a few, who knows)

Being told that this was The Best Steak House in the world (with prices to match), we were kinda sceptical, not to mention slightly frightened by the prospect of paying so much for cow, but anyhow, determined to try it out since we were in the Big Apple, we booked a slot at the restaurant. People told us how difficult it was to book a place. Not at all.

(Granted, it was at 3.45pm on a Friday afternoon. I can’t imagine that being a prime time slot for steak consumption.)

Having got lost from Manhattan to Brooklyn (we walked across the wrong bridge, and then had to take a cab to the restaurant, and NONE of the 3 cabbies we flagged knew where this place was. The guy we finally went with (the 3rd guy) had a running commentary from his walkie-talkie (or taxi-talkie) central person thing and was directed to the place. When we finally got there, it almost felt like we were being taken into shelter from the unfamiliar sights of the Brooklyn streets, and so, settled in with a sigh of relief and hunger to the wooden, big armchairs in the restaurant.

They sure know how to treat lost, hungry people here. Within seconds of being sat down, a basket of warm, fresh bread was brought to the table. The bits on top of the bread were shallots maybe? But this was by far one of the nicest bread basket bread I’d ever had. Slightly chewy when torn apart, it tasted slightly garlicky, almost as though it had been mixed with some garlic-flavoured olive oil.

On the table was a gravy boat, presumably for the steak. It tasted of tomato, but spiced up with something so the overall effect was one of a spicy tomato sauce (NOT ketchup).

Before we arrived, we’d read reviews from places which said things like:
a) You can’t ask for a menu, otherwise they will know you’re a tourist. Well, the huge DSLR on my neck kinda gave that away. This must be why they gave us a menu anyway (and to every other table in the room). Myth de-bunked.
b) You can’t even SAY what meat you want, just the way you want it cooked and for how many people. Again, myth kinda de-bunked because unless you come to a steak house looking for a tuna sandwich, it’s kinda presumed (not unfairly) that you’re coming for steak. The menu is pretty idiot-proof (refer above).

We ordered the Steak For Two. Rare, please, and settled down to wait.

While we waited, I amused myself by seeing how many pictures I could take of stuff around the table.

Bread.

And then, the Steak For Two was brought to the table.

Wait for it …

Keep waiting, it’s worth it.

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Steak For Two, rare. OHMYGOODNESS how much cow is on that plate?!?!

While I gasped and snapped away, you’ll notice that the huge chunk of missing cow from the top left of the plate was silently being consumed by the boyfriend.

The piece of steak which was gingerly put on my plate by the waiter, presumably slightly afraid of my grinning, salivating self. I could barely bring myself to eat it, so I took about a hundred pictures of it, thinking that if I kept snapping and never eating it, it’d remain on the plate. (Highly logical, I must say.)

Then, I remembered how much it cost, and decided to eat it.

Look, I know it’s almost the same picture as above, but look at how beautiful this piece of steak is. It’s almost an insult to call it steak; to class it with other pieces of inferior steak-pretending things. I’ve never had steak like this before, and after eating it, the only name I think is fit for this is:

Cotton-Candy Cow Meat

I can’t even begin to imagine how they cooked this, but the outside was almost charred, and the inside was still pink and quivering. There was a worrying amount of oil (I prefer to think of it as juice, or even, gravy) on the platter, which is why the plate is tilting slightly to the left. It’s something the restaurant staff did for everyone, and not some weight-loss method derived by me, nope.

Like the boyfriend so aptly described it, you didn’t need the steak knife provided because you could just pick the meat up with your fingers and just nibble it gently, and it felt like eating cotton candy (minus the sweet stuff, of course).

How many pictures of steak is enough? Never enough, I say.

Helpful that they put a little reminder that its rare.

When we were done with the pieces around the bone, we started working on the bone, and this is the resultant meatless bone. We must have done well because the waiter came over to marvel at it. Marvel, I say, but it could have been to laugh at it, for all I know. I’ll choose to believe the better version.

Chips that cost us US$10. Expensive, but I must conclude, worth it. Very crispy, and still very rich and satisfying inside.

Then the bill came. But the beef had done so much to impress us that we almost felt like we were glad to pay US$135 for the meal.

Look, you don’t even have to guess if I will recommend this or not, because if you don’t go there, you don’t know what you’re missing.

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