Not a steakhouse you will particularly run into unless you're a local as it is situated in the quiet end of Essex Road opposite a few estate flats. It looks like it has newly been refurbished with a lovely dome ceiling window allowing natural light from above and it's clean decor. The lighting gave a nice bright warm glow to the place, reflecting off the cream wall and the dark varnished walnut wood tables and high sideboards.
There was a nicely organised open kitchen at the front where we can see our food being prepared. Staff were friendly but welcoming but needed to be more knowledgeable in regards to the menu as they kept needing to go back and forth to the chef to answer our questions like, what vegetables were in the salad. But it didn't trouble as and everything was done with a smile.
Provoleta
A 48 hours dry aged provolone cheese grilled. It was beautifully and charred on the top creating a slightly thin harder crusty outside yet nice and chewy on the inside. It was smokey and salty with a sweet mild taste, nicely paired with unseasoned tomato to balance out the salt as well as to add moisture and a nice zest to it. A side of rocket to refresh the flavours a little.
Beef empanadas
This was a softer doughier version than I'm used to, almost like a deep fried gyoza. It was a nice change but I do prefer a crispier exterior and a thinner pastry. The filling of mince although was succulent needed more seasoning and flavour from other ingredients which it was lacking. The addition of greens and herbs against the mince meat would have been nice but it didn't have any,
Churasco De Lomo
Described a fillet in a spiral cut. It was reasonable. Said to have been marinated in chimichurri sauce for 48 hours seems to be hard to believe as we didn't taste any additional seasoning. It did lack some herbs and I've had more tender and sweeter fillets. However it was still lovely and succulent.
Tira de Ancho
This was described as rib-eye in a spiral cut was much more tough and fibrous. It required quite a lot of chewing but wasn't impossible to break down. Luckily it was richer and sweeter in flavour from the cut so it was nice to enjoy the juices being released through each bite. The chimichurri sauce on top didn't do much of its flavour as it had not soaked into the meat and wasn't fragrant enough
Crunchy vegetables
This was really appetising in a lovely sweet vinegary marinate. As the vegetables had its own natural sugars, it got sweeter as you chew.
Sweet potato and chorizo
The sweet potatoes itself were amazing. Lightly crisp on the outside and creamy and fluffy in the inside. However we were disappointed that there were only 3 thin cuts of chorizo in there and that they were overcooked and tough
Mash potatoes
I highly recommend them. Made of butter and cream it was incredibly rich, creamy and buttery. Went really well with the steaks, adding additional moisture and flavour.
Personally I don't think I return for the steaks. They weren't of the highest quality or flavoursome. Fillet should be buttery soft and rib eye be tender as well due to the marbling of the fat in the meat but both weren't as tender as they should be. The rest of the food had it's highs and lows.
The place also lacked atmosphere due to it's location and the design of the restaurant being long with large open spacing accentuated this. We were the only customers when we first entered which made us feel very uncomfortable and self conscious especially with the staff members just standing a few meters away from us.
With so many better steakhouse in London I don't particularly recommend unless there is an offer on. Unless they change their meat supplier I don't see them lasting long either. read more