The internet is in agreement: The Hawksmoor steaks are to die for. But let’s not jump to conclusions just yet. Bring on the mandatory steakporn and let the procession begin.
“Dictionary-thick” Steak.
I took the day off, and my out-of-office message read like so: “Kang will be shooting the breeze on a Sunny Wednesday afternoon… ahh. Call him tomorrow.” I also made my first proper ‘fine art’ photo-print at super print-house Metro Imaging. It is an A3 sized portrait of a cat (what else do you print for the 1st time?), who lives with a friend of mine, in Taiwan, and whom enjoyed sitting on my socks, of all things.
If only he knew, if only. It really was ‘gallery’ quality and it had better be at thirty pounds a go.
I was there to meet two others who are also positively mad for food. A couple minutes after I arrived, Mark whizzed into the door. It’s a little surreal meeting someone for the first time, but is also someone I chat with quite regularly on twitter. So it’s like we’ve met, yet we haven’t. I’m still not used to the whole the meeting virtually and then in person thing yet. We thought it took awhile for Catty to arrive; but little did we know, she was already in the restaurant, on another table! Eventually, all three of us settled on the same table, and almost immediately we began laughing, and joking, and we couldn’t stop talking about food. Oh how very exhilarating meeting like minded foodlovers… I’m not alone in my obsession. Aye.
Eat me.
I could have sworn that my starters were roast scallops with peas and samphire; it says scallops with devilled broadbeans on the website though. Ah, anyway for £9.00; the scallops rested on a creamy green bed, which tasted like mushy peas to me; actually there was a bit of tanginess, dare I say it tasted like pea ketchup. Hmm, perhaps I was seeing things because samphire was absent on the dish. As for the scallops, it was quite good; a little soggy on the inside, but on the outside was quite an open chargrilled flavour, a little on the subtle side though, like flames that have been put out with lemonade.
Alright enough bullshite, I came for steak, you are reading for steak and so we shall, now talk Schteak. (my Michael McIntyre Moment.. my mandrawers, argh!)
We ordered three 400g Rib Eye steaks. They weren’t kidding, Hawksmoor does serve dictionary thick steaks; one could immediately smell the real charcoal grill it was cooked it – wonderful barbecue aromas filled the air and I felt I really was in the shrine that worshipped the bovine. Alright then, time to dig in.
I don’t usually like photographing half-eaten food, but I wanted you to see the Hawksmoor’s definition of medium rare. To sum it up, it was perfect. The entirety of the meat looked as if it was coloured in with a pink crayon; it wasn’t rare in the middle, just so slightly cooked, and more beefy aromas were rising as one cut into it.
Right then, the first bite was… um, good. The texture is alittle tougher than I expected, it’s abit chewy, just abit too chunky. I was expecting it to be meltingly silky but it was quite the opposite. Still, it was still soft, considering its about an inch thick. I must say, the steak is really perfectly cooked. The crusty charred bits interacting with rock salt, left me nodding with approval, but I was most impressed with the way the juices were magically sealed within the meat. I had noticed there was no messy drool on the plate, and with each bite, the meat was just spewing wetness which coated my entire mouth.
The steak came on its own – naked – without any complimenting it, such an innocent sight I thought; brave and bold, the ultimate distillation of its form.
The taste was very reminiscent of something I quite enjoy: Twisties. Cheese flavour to be exact. I also tried the fatty marbles and those were the best bits, they were all dominating marrow-flavoured cubes. I couldn’t really bring myself to swallow too many of the fatty bits, since it was chunks of fat, but man that flavour was definitely something special.
But.
As much as I hate to say so, there is a but. It was a really good piece of meat, don’t get me wrong and I think it is entirely valid that this is one of the best steaks in the city, but it’s not the best steak I’ve ever had. I think it’s all the hype which has gradually built up around it and it had led me to expect that Hawksmoor housed a bunch of voodoo doctors who could turn 35 day dry-aged Longhorns into Grade 9 Kobe beef.
This was not the case.
The beef itself didn’t really have much natural flavour to it, it was merely ordinary and as I said earlier, the texture was just abit on the chunky side for me. I expected beefiness to fill my mouth, but in spite of the inherent sealed juices, I was actually longing for some kind of béarnaise or even red wine jus to dunk my chunks of beef into.
Having said that, the meat was outstandingly cooked. Maybe its down to personal preference, I do believe that the quality of steak is down to the quality of meat. You don’t need to do much to it, and one looks for natural flavours. In this case, I think that the weakest part of the meat was probably the meat itself.
The Aftermath
My meal ended on a high note with a really gorgeous sticky toffee pudding; our waitress couldn’t stop recommending it to us, and I could see why: it was luxurious. Topped with what I believe was a dollop of clotted cream, the pud was full flavoured, yet it lent itself a light airiness in texture, and the puffy pud was accompanied by a rich toffee sauce that lingered long. Raw sugar and honey sweetness, it was so very good. So good that with abit of hype, it might even be legendary. Perfectly sticky.
Mark and Catty were excellent company, our little lunch meeting went for over two and a half hours, and like all great meals; great company made it worthwhile and memorable. I look forward to future tw-eat-ups with fervent anticipation. As for Hawksmoor, well, I think it is certainly up there as one of the best steakhouses in London, indeed the kitchen does know how to cook the perfect steak, but reluctantly, it wasn’t the best steak I’ve ever come across. The three of us paid £150 for the meal; including two glasses of wine and a couple of side dishes; which is fairly priced I would say.
If you love meat, you should definitely give Hawksmoor a try, but go without expectation and you should be well-rewarded. Go with my more than hype-induced anticipation, then you might walk away feeling just a little torn.
The Gist of It
Hawksmoor official site
157 Commercial St E1 6BJ (020) 7247 7392
£50 for 3 courses, steak in a variety of sizes.
Verdict: Perfect execution, legendary pudding, but it falls short of the Grail. Don’t believe the hype, but go and try for yourself in anycase.
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Tags: london, Shoreditch, steak
I went to hawksmoor around 3 years ago and had the bone in sirloin – probably one of the best steaks i’ve had in my life. A return visit a couple of months ago failed to reclaim that magic. I agree that without expectation they do serve a very fine steak, but the hype probably detracts from that considerably.
coolographer’s last blog post..bape store london opening
You don’t say what cut of steak you had – presumably (since there was a lot of fat) it was the rib eye? I always order rib eye, as I love the fat in the steaks – fat is flavour! Strange that you didn’t get bearnaise sauce with it – when I went I had both bearnaise and peppercorn.
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Coolgrapher – Yup, having said that, Hawksmoor is still pretty good though, I really wouldn’t mind returning. I also want to try Goodmans, a mate told me that the steaks there are quite good as well, they serve USDA prime beef.
Lizzie – Whoops! thanks for that, forgot about it and have edited it now. Yeah it was the rib eye; the 400g one I think. All three of us ordered it!
Yeah in hindsight I really should have ordered some sauces to go with it, ah well, I’ll have to go back again me thinks, still have to try the legendary burger.
Catty – Lol… the cameras were class, if only someone took a picture of us holding our machines over the food – amazing how the conversation dies while we concentrated on getting a foodshot!! yeah it was great meeting both you and Mark, here’s to more tw-eat-ups!
I couldn’t agree more that the hype detracts from the actual quality of the steaks. But anyway, food aside, it was amazing meeting you and Mark, and looking forward to future tw-eat-ups indeed! Still laughing at how odd we must have looked as the food was served, and all three cameras come out
catty’s last blog post..hit me with a baby back kalbi, baby.
The service is my only issue with this place. It’s bizarre – not to mention inexcusable – that you weren’t given any béarnaise sauce, and I’d place the blame here firmly on the front of house.
Plus I have noticed that although I have been lucky perhaps on my previous visits, the fact is that the taste and quality of the beef can change from animal to animal, never mind from one day to the next. I guess you will just have to go again
Chris’s last blog post..Meat is Murder (Tasty, Tasty Murder)
This brings back happy memories of the steak tasting there! I love a naked steak, and don’t believe that steak needs any accompanying sauces. Sorry it was too hyped up for you! I hope to drag the husband to Kobe in November so that he can watch me eat Kobe beef while he eats a bowl of tofu or something. I’ve been to Kobe before and can still remember the taste of the beef…unforgettable.
Helen Yuet Ling Pang’s last blog post..Salt Yard (tapas) – London, England (7.5/10)
Helen, I’ll agree with you about that – good steak can and should shine with its natural flavours. I’ve never ever had true Kobe Beef before, I’ve seen the youtube videos of the tremendous marbling and I really want to go to Kobe! Lol, “eats a bowl of tofu..” ; surely the sight and smell of Kobe beef can make him a convert!
The best steaks I’ve had were in Sydney; can’t remember the name of the restaurant, but it was on the first floor overlooking bondi beach, and they were advertising these AAA++ grade wagyu steaks , which were really eye catching; when it came it was similarly well cooked like hawksmoor – the juices were sealed into the meat, and every bite was just filled with juice! But the quality of the meat was unbeatable; It was about an inch thick as well – a ribeye – but the beefiness was fantastic; really full and glorious.
Dammit, I need to plan a trip to Japan next year… and I’ll be anticipating your Kobe beef post later this year, I’m hoping for lots and lots of pictures of the steak from all angles.
There seem to be a lot of mixed reviews emerging at the moment. As Chris said, I think the flavour of the beef varies from animal to animal and I must have been very lucky because every steak I’ve had at Hawksmoor has been amazing. It’s always come with bearnaise though – you were very unlucky because their bearnaise is amazing! I love their triple cooked chips too but usually go for a tomato salad as those hunks of meat are just soooo humongous! I love the charring, It’s all about the fat and the charring for me
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I went to Hawksmoor with very high expectations too.. I enjoyed it, but thought it was too expensive for what is was. No where near the best steak I’ve had – which puts me off quite a bit when it is £25 for a steak and nothing else.
The best steak I’ve had in London was at Great Queen Street – but still nothing like Peter Luger’s in New York.
Our general opinion was the meat was very good, but everything else let the whole experience down. Service was uninteresting, and unfocussed on the importance of the steak. Dare I say it – its wasn’t American ‘have a nice day we rock’ enough. The meat is priority one, but in a truly fabulous steakhouse its about the experience…feeling big, lavish, carnal, and probably horny…And the details count…bearnaise, chips…they had better be perfect….I think
I must eat a lot of bad steaks, because I always seem to get a little bit bored half way through… Not made it to Hawksmoor yet but have read quite a few reviews of the place – this seems like the most honest and unbiased opinion so far.
It was pretty good the first time I’ve been. Second time round, the meat was a bit too much; we got greedy and ordered a 700g giant slab. Would I be there again? Probably, but not in the near future. However, the service was impeccable both times.
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