The makers of Donostia (the restaurant) – a major cog that has transfromed this nether-region of W1 into a minor gastronomic powerhouse – opens their second restaurant in London. Once again, owners Nemanji and Melody are expanding on their love for San Sebastián with their take on Basque charcoal and wood grills (otherwise known as Erretegias). Lurra is Land in the native tongue and so the focus on produce of integrity, is the name of the game.
It is natural to expect sizzling steaks from a new grill restaurant and since their launch last month, the internet has been totally distracted by sexy photos of those medium-rare bums of geriatric Galician blondes (cows slaughtered for beef after a decade and a half of milking). Lurra is the latest restaurant to offer this beef, which has pretty much exploded in popularity (I keep missing that call booking window at Kitty Fishers).
As you probably know, Nemanja is the source (UK exclusive, I think) of this good stuff anyway, so it makes sense that his newest restaurant is designed to showcase txuleta. The smallest cut offered is 900g of Galician Blonde, Rubia Gallega, Prime Rib on the bone going for £65/kg. At that price, it competes with Goodman’s USDA offerings. I’m curious of course, and very recently ordered one via Turner & George’s online delivery service (also supplied by Nemanja’s importing outfit).
(Side Note 1: 4 successful BBQs this summer using T&G, these are their longhorn porterhouse steaks).
T&G’s online price is £38/kg and if you’re lucky to pick a good cut, it will be a notable experience; as fatty and beefy as anything that is carefully dry-aged from Yorkshire, Ireland and Omaha.
I did expect to eat steak on this inaugural visit because fatty beef in dry cabinet, but then I got talking to Nemanja. It’s been 3 years since he poured me a glass of Txakoli from height which was great fun (Time flies). He just loves Basque cuisine (and of course, decent wine too, The Flying Pig! I remember you) and he started explaining the provenance part of this menu and it really does have a ton of exciting things. He urged me to go for variety. It was a hard pass on the beef, but there’s always next time.
Tables were all fully booked for Friday lunch, but I managed two ring side seats at the bar.
Ceps with egg yolk and shaved foie gras , £8.5
The mushrooms were thinly sliced, then pan-fried till crispy edges appeared. The foie tasted like a sort of grated cold parfait, with fresh raw egg yolk in the middle. Cold, crunchy, creamy, classic umami flavour combos. Really good ceps, I forget where they were from, but very simply brilliant. Another plate please.
Cobia tartare with trout caviar , £9
An oily white fish caught off the coasts of Peru, finely diced and served more like a spring onion ceviche. Really good fish, just appetising stuff. More freshness. Love it.
Grilled octopus with piquillo sauce , £11
Just delicious. Carefully scooped off their grill, to retain all this mollusk’s naturally squidgy, moist textures, enveloped in a smokey charred exterior. If I heard right, this is truly replication of the popular Galician recipe, with the humble octopus sourced from A Coruña. Quality.
Sourdough with bone marrow , £4
Warm, soft, doughy and crusty crust. Where from? Lovely bread, served with God’s butter still bubbling from the roast. Another simple and decadent offering.
I quite enjoyed those chips, gently crispy as opposed to a proper crunch, inside is like a buttery mash served with smooth aioli. Great runner beans with iberico jamon for flavour too.
And so to the lamb shoulder – yes, fabulous, it is as you expect, a warming fall-off-the-bone floss-like tender meat, kept moist in its own juices. Full of tummy warming goodiness. More than enough for two, so it was well worth the £11.5 dutch.
Blackberry ice cream, one scoop, £2
Ditto… and my mate Tim decided it was time for his perfectly manly hand to make its debut on the internet ( Please direct all requests for this lovely hand model to me, his agent and manager at kang {at} londoneater {dot} com ).
Traditional Mamia with orange blossom honey, £5
So this very old-fashioned Basque recipe is a kind of curdling cheese made from Sheep’s milk and rennet (curdled milk). Like the rest of the menu, this dish is focussed purity, to me, it is rather redolent of tofu based pudding, douhua, except with a tinge of funk, perhaps from sheeps milk. Very calm way to finish the meal.
We had four glasses of wine between the two of us, a spanish variety that tasted exactly like an honestly oaked Chard, and a classy Ribero del Douro to go with the lamb. We paid £123.08 in total, of which I think £35 was just for the wine.
I love Lurra, it delivers on its earthy philosophy of gorgeous provenance. I think the food here is even better than Donostia, I cannot fault the cooking, every dish was spot-on. The team have really expanded their education of the cuisine, the lean recipes, the deft execution and the quality produce amount to things of delicious beauty.
So finally, I want spend the last paragraph saying some nice things about the decor, as this really is a comfortable spot to lunch. The colour palate is similar to that of Donostia, light grey (or green?) with white marble tops. It just has a totally organic and natural feel with taller ceilings and just generally more expansive space than Donostia. All this is accented with the extensive use of wood. Superb oak parquets for the bar area, reclaimed wine barrel clad part of the walls, and most of all, these awesome brass inlayed dinesen (doesnt look douglas fir, so must be) oak stair steps. I’m speechless.
The Details
Lurra
Basque Cuisine, £50pp
9 Seymour Place W1H 5BA
Tel : 0207 724 4545
Tube : Marble Arch
The makers of Donostia (the restaurant) – a major cog that has transfromed this nether-region of W1 into a minor gastronomic powerhouse – opens their second restaurant in London. Once again, owners Nemanji and Melody are expanding on their love for San Sebastián with their take on Basque charcoal and wood grills (otherwise known as Erretegias). Lurra is Land in the native tongue and so the focus on produce of integrity, is the name of the game.
It is natural to expect sizzling steaks from a new grill restaurant and since their launch last month, the internet has been totally distracted by sexy photos of those medium-rare bums of geriatric Galician blondes (cows slaughtered for beef after a decade and a half of milking). Lurra is the latest restaurant to offer this beef, which has pretty much exploded in popularity (I keep missing that call booking window at Kitty Fishers).
As you probably know, Nemanja is the source (UK exclusive, I think) of this good stuff anyway, so it makes sense that his newest restaurant is designed to showcase txuleta. The smallest cut offered is 900g of Galician Blonde, Rubia Gallega, Prime Rib on the bone going for £65/kg. At that price, it competes with Goodman’s USDA offerings. I’m curious of course, and very recently ordered one via Turner & George’s online delivery service (also supplied by Nemanja’s importing outfit).
(Side Note 1: 4 successful BBQs this summer using T&G, these are their longhorn porterhouse steaks).
T&G’s online price is £38/kg and if you’re lucky to pick a good cut, it will be a notable experience; as fatty and beefy as anything that is carefully dry-aged from Yorkshire, Ireland and Omaha.
(Side Note 2: Rib-eyes are fantastic of course, but my flavour of the moment is this 60 day aged rump centre cut)
I did expect to eat steak on this inaugural visit because fatty beef in dry cabinet, but then I got talking to Nemanja. It’s been 3 years since he poured me a glass of Txakoli from height which was great fun (Time flies). He just loves Basque cuisine (and of course, decent wine too, The Flying Pig! I remember you) and he started explaining the provenance part of this menu and it really does have a ton of exciting things. He urged me to go for variety. It was a hard pass on the beef, but there’s always next time.
Tables were all fully booked for Friday lunch, but I managed two ring side seats at the bar.
Ceps with egg yolk and shaved foie gras , £8.5
The mushrooms were thinly sliced, then pan-fried till crispy edges appeared. The foie tasted like a sort of grated cold parfait, with fresh raw egg yolk in the middle. Cold, crunchy, creamy, classic umami flavour combos. Really good ceps, I forget where they were from, but very simply brilliant. Another plate please.
Cobia tartare with trout caviar , £9
An oily white fish caught off the coasts of Peru, finely diced and served more like a spring onion ceviche. Really good fish, just appetising stuff. More freshness. Love it.
Grilled octopus with piquillo sauce , £11
Just delicious. Carefully scooped off their grill, to retain all this mollusk’s naturally squidgy, moist textures, enveloped in a smokey charred exterior. If I heard right, this is truly replication of the popular Galician recipe, with the humble octopus sourced from A Coruña. Quality.
Sourdough with bone marrow , £4
Warm, soft, doughy and crusty crust. Where from? Lovely bread, served with God’s butter still bubbling from the roast. Another simple and decadent offering.
L-R
Fries with smoked paprika & aioli, £5
Slow cooked suckling lamb shoulder, £23 (for two)
Runner beans with Jamon, £5
I quite enjoyed those chips, gently crispy as opposed to a proper crunch, inside is like a buttery mash served with smooth aioli. Great runner beans with iberico jamon for flavour too.
And so to the lamb shoulder – yes, fabulous, it is as you expect, a warming fall-off-the-bone floss-like tender meat, kept moist in its own juices. Full of tummy warming goodiness. More than enough for two, so it was well worth the £11.5 dutch.
Blackberry ice cream, one scoop, £2
Ditto… and my mate Tim decided it was time for his perfectly manly hand to make its debut on the internet ( Please direct all requests for this lovely hand model to me, his agent and manager at kang {at} londoneater {dot} com ).
Traditional Mamia with orange blossom honey, £5
So this very old-fashioned Basque recipe is a kind of curdling cheese made from Sheep’s milk and rennet (curdled milk). Like the rest of the menu, this dish is focussed purity, to me, it is rather redolent of tofu based pudding, douhua, except with a tinge of funk, perhaps from sheeps milk. Very calm way to finish the meal.
We had four glasses of wine between the two of us, a spanish variety that tasted exactly like an honestly oaked Chard, and a classy Ribero del Douro to go with the lamb. We paid £123.08 in total, of which I think £35 was just for the wine.
I love Lurra, it delivers on its earthy philosophy of gorgeous provenance. I think the food here is even better than Donostia, I cannot fault the cooking, every dish was spot-on. The team have really expanded their education of the cuisine, the lean recipes, the deft execution and the quality produce amount to things of delicious beauty.
So finally, I want spend the last paragraph saying some nice things about the decor, as this really is a comfortable spot to lunch. The colour palate is similar to that of Donostia, light grey (or green?) with white marble tops. It just has a totally organic and natural feel with taller ceilings and just generally more expansive space than Donostia. All this is accented with the extensive use of wood. Superb oak parquets for the bar area, reclaimed wine barrel clad part of the walls, and most of all, these awesome brass inlayed dinesen (doesnt look douglas fir, so must be) oak stair steps. I’m speechless.
The Details
Lurra
Basque Cuisine, £50pp
9 Seymour Place W1H 5BA
Tel : 0207 724 4545
Tube : Marble Arch
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