LDNGuide
Where To Go For A Steak When Someone Suggests Hawksmoor For The Millionth Time
10 spots for when all you want is a big fat steak.
No shade to Hawskmoor, but when that craving for a meat-heavy, three-hour long, unbutton-your-trousers kind of meal hits, it’s good to have options. And when we’re in the mood for one of those meals, it’s more than just the meat that’s important. It’s the price, the sides, the sauces, and the ratio of serious-looking investment bankers to people actually trying to have fun. From a high-end Peruvian restaurant in Mayfair to a market stall serving excellent steak and chips, here are 10 of our favourite London spots to eat steak.
THE SPOTS
Goodman Steakhouse
A New York style steakhouse on Maddox Street, this leather booth-filled spot is serious about meat. You’ll find a chalkboard scrawled with the day's specials, a menu of fillets, strips, and rib-eye steaks, and seating that says, ‘make yourself comfortable’. And still, it’s not just the excellent cuts of steak that make this place great. It’s the extra chunky chips, creamed spinach, and mashed potato with caramelised shallots, paired with the cosy interiors, that make it the ultimate comfort meal. P.S. You can request halal meat by calling ahead.
Coya London
This high-end Peruvian spot isn’t a steak house. It’s a foliage-filled bar and restaurant in Mayfair serving excellent ceviche, adorable baby brisket bao buns, and a £34 rib-eye steak that comes with chimichurri on the side. Come for the steak, and stay for the tuna tacos and Chilean sea bass iron pot.
Sign up for our newsletter.
Be the first to get expert restaurant recommendations for every situation right in your inbox.
Whoever's job it is to calculate the average price of a steak in Knightsbridge must have had a tough day at work when salt bae set up shop. But if you’re looking for something in the area on the more, erm, economical end of the spectrum, head to Zelman Meats. At this halal steak restaurant on the top floor of Harvey Nichols, you can get a sharing platter with every cut of meat for £35 per person. Order the lobster croquettes, and some triple cooked chips on the side, and focus the rest of your stomach space on the meat.
Blacklock
Cheeky, cheeky Blacklock. This is a steak restaurant with a sense of humour, a distinct understanding of what constitutes a fun night, and a love for great deals. All of which are some of our favourite qualities in a human, so it makes sense that Blacklock is a restaurant we’ve hit up time and time again. From their naughty meat-themed messages written in lipstick on the mirror in their dining room—let’s talk about chops baby, let’s talk about you and meat—to their fantastic £22 ‘all in’ option that involves a heady mix of beef, snacks, sides, and chops, Blacklock should always rank highly on your list of go-to places for a steak. They’ve also got locations in Covent Garden, City, and Shoreditch, but their feelgood Soho spot is our favourite.
Trattoria Brutto
A steak on a board is enticing. Well rested and glistening pink, a blanket of gold leaf on top if that’s your thing. But chopping boards aren’t the kind we’re talking about. We’re talking about Brutto’s bistecca alla Fiorentina chalkboard. An enticing of list of eight or nine steaks of varying weights (600g up to say, 900g) that are crossed off once ordered. When they’re gone, they’re gone. What’s more is that the Farringdon trattoria knows how to cook a steak. Like, really knows. Charred and tender with crystals of salt scattered on top, specks of pink flesh still clinging to the t-bone begging to be gnawed off. It doesn’t need anything else, but green beans or a salad on the side lets it speak for itself.
This nine-year old Marylebone spot is not just a delightful mix of distant jazz, hubbub, cutlery clatter, and softly spoken, unshowy, super-confident service. It’s also home to one of the best steak experiences I’ve had in London. Their 400g Argentinian rib-eye, cooked medium rare, allows the natural beefy flavours to combine subtly (and with surprising complexity) with just the right amount of salt and flame. And the chimichurri and cauliflower and cheese side are almost unnecessary, but absolutely welcome.
The Beefsteaks
Sometimes you want steak on the move. We understand, we have a pretty showstopping iron deficiency too. For a quickfire and really quite delicious steak moment, The Beefsteaks have got you covered. They’ve been serving steak and chips at Maltby Street and other street markets around London for a hot minute now and the prices are very reasonable. Of course, we could go on about how the beef is sourced and how it was bred, but all you need to know is that it tastes really good on a bed of hand-cut crispy fries, especially when both are drenched in chimichurri or béarnaise sauce. Just be sure to check their Instagram to see whether or not they’re trading.
Quality Chop House
It really is all in the name with QCH. The Clerkenwell institution screams red meat and gout given its grade II listed Victorian aesthetic and its menu says the same. Hereford bavette steak, 1kg bone-in ribeye, a hunk of Sussex sirloin. The choice and size depends on how many carnivores are in your group. The more straightforward decision lies in their sides. Those famous, intricate, many-layered crispy confit potatoes are an absolute non-negotiable order.
Although Brat’s plaudits at their original Redchurch Street location were, initially, all about their whole turbot, it should be little surprise that it’s also one of London’s best restaurants to come to for steak. Their open fire approach to cooking lends itself to massive juicy sirloin and beef ribs and, best of all, always come sitting in their own smoky juices. Bread is, of course, an absolutely necessary side to mop up said juices.
Smokehouse
Ordering a steak off of a blackboard is a real mood. The mood being ‘I am a carnivore with a penchant for ordering experiences that make me feel like I’m in the countryside’. The thing is, Smokehouse not only has a slobber-inducing blackboard menu and excellent fresh cuts of quality meat, they also have the perfect setting to enjoy it in. Think roaring fires, a bar with plenty of rich red wines, and that countryside pub look that will warm your cold little London heart. The meat offerings change regularly, but if the smoked featherblade is on make sure it’s also on your table.
