Monday 28 September 2009

Goodman

In search of the best steak in London I felt that it was high time I visited Goodman, Mayfair. I was in a bit of a quandry, would it be burger or steak?? Decisions. I have put in more hours in search of the best burger, I don't often have steak, clearly at Goodman this is what it's all about. It had to be steak.

Saturday afternoon, we're the only visible diners, I suspect there are others lurking towards the rear of the restaurant. 3 of us went with the majority of fellow bloggers (having read the many other posts devoted to Goodman) and had the 350G USDA grain fed New York Strip Steak. Thomas had the Goodman ribeye.

The New York Strip, medium rare, was perfectly cooked and bursting with flavour with an amazing char. Compared to the ribeye this had more taste but was a little tougher, Thomas' ribeye was slightly over cooked, he asked for medium rare and it was more medium. We ate without talking, relishing each mouthful, trying first without sauce then dousing it in the contents of the little individual silver boats.

The selection of sauces sampled, bernaise and stilton were impeccable, the latter not too pungeant therefore overpowering the meat as stilton sauce all to often does. I adored the creamed spinach but was less keen on the chips which left a rather acrid taste in my mouth for hours afterwards. In any case, not nice. The waiter did suggest that we needn't order 1 each though, that 2 between 4 would likely be enough, and it was, more than enough. I also tried the sauteed button mushrooms which were good.

The waiter was very attentive, all staff were very friendly and the place soon filled up as the afternoon wore on. I had a very good bloody mary and there was ample tap water provided. I rather like the decor and the background music. I felt a tad too full for dessert but the boys each had a slice of New York cheesecake which I had a couple of bites of and it was really very good. One of the best I've tried.


Okay, I have a couple of gripes but this is THE best steak I've had in London, and my companions agreed. The set lunch menu the website claims is available between 12 and 5pm. Upon requesting to see the menu the waiter set off to find it then returned saying in fact it was no longer possible. It was about 4:30. Fine. Perhaps as a result of this request, we were not treated to the display of cuts available as all subsequent arrivals were.

Following the meal we took a walk, or rather crawl around Mayfair, and came across this charming place, looking like something from the set of Harry Potter.


This afternoon epitomised living in London for me. I adore this city and the culinary delights we have on offer to us. It also reminds me that I need to explore more.

Goodman
26 Maddox St
Mayfair
9/10

Goodman on Urbanspoon

9 comments:

Chris Pople said...

I bloody love this place. Agree with you about the chips though - strange when they have everything else so right.

Hollow Legs said...

Over-cooking the steak sounds like rather a common complaint; unforgivable in my book.

Chris Pople said...

Lizzie: The way it was explained to me was that there are some steaks they do (the Prime Rib for example) that don't work so well rare - they need cooking a bit more for the fat to render. That doesn't excuse serving an overcooked 'normal' (ie. grass-fed Black Angus etc.) steak though

Anonymous said...

aaamazing, cant wait to go!!

Laissez Fare said...

Well, this is definitely still top of the list for my next steak outing in London, thanks for the very nice review :)

Best regards,

LF

Laissez Fare said...

Oh, and by the way, you can read my take on The Fat Duck (finally posted the review) and compare notes...we really enjoyed it too.

Boo said...

Chris/Lizzie - interesting about the cooking of the ribeye, they didn't explain that to us. And it's such a shame about the chips, when everything else is so right.

LF - I'm checking out your Fat Duck review right now!

Alex said...

A good day in London beats a great day anywhere else in the world I think (getting tearful now...)!

Boo said...

I'd have to agree with you Alex, sob!