I’ve raved about Hawksmoor: is this London’s best meat restaurant?Hawksmoor so many times that you, my dear reader, may think that you’ve heard it all before. But Hawksmoor have not let me down in terms of providing content; they have two new side dishes which I feel enhance the meat-tastic experience of a trip to Hawksmoor no end.
First up are the double fried eggs. I’m told this is a somewhat Argentine thing to garnish your steaks with, I had no idea. I loved my couple of fried eggs and dipping a bit of excellent steak in their yolks. Delicious!
The second new side order was stunningly wonderful: roast bone marrow. The bones are cut lengthways so it is easy to scoop out their gelatinous, rich, flavoursome goodness. Moreover, at three pounds per serving they are much cheaper than Restaurant Saint John’s offerings (the only other place I know of in London that regularly serves this dish), and by arse the Hawkmoor version is distinctly better too.
An epic steak of the very highest quality is only improved by goodies like these; I also felt improved when eating them. This is food that expresses itself as being hilariously visceral and gratuitously biological fun.
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Ooh – I didn’t notice the eggs last time I was there, but I did have the bone marrow. So rich. I felt they could have done with something a little acidic to lighten it up some, but it’s a great addition to the menu.
I like large granules of salt on my bone marrow, it seems to cut through the richness. But yes, I agree a little squeeze of lemon juice would probably have been a good idea. I do like it that the bone marrow is more accessible than in the St. John version. Wonderfully tasty, decadent stuff for the bold of knife and fork!
Thanks for dropping by, Lizzie.
I am pleased that some place other than St John is making use of marrow bones. Few places in the world irritate me more than St John. The premise of the restaurant is put forward as nose to tail eating, i.e. even the weird bits are good. That is a good and fair point. But what really irks me is that the reason one wishes to make use of the weird bits is that one does not like to waste. Still, such cuts being less popular, and frequently involving more waste (eg lots of bones in a pig’s trotter or lots of fat and gristle in other cuts), they are less expensive. Does St John reflect this? Not one bit. Marrow bones that are practically free, require no preparation other than being grilled in a hot oven, etc. are priced as if they were filet steak. And while it may be just as delicious, the extortionate margin that is being taken is simply not right. It speaks of arrogance and snobbery, or perhaps rather of reverse snobbery, which is perhaps even worse. And the staff is typically unpleasant to boot.
Please classify this under “rants” David. Very excited about going to Hawksmoor, though.
Even though I have had much fun at St John on many occasions I agree entirely. Their pricing policy moves beyond cheeky to being downright rude. Moreover, the portion size of the novelty animal bits is always minuscule: they get them for almost nothing, give you bugger all and then charge through the nose. See what I mean? Rude. As you say, ‘rude’ also applies to the staff who are usually supercilious and condescending. There is never any pleasure or enthusiasm from them, they just behave as if you should feel lucky to get any service at all. The awful dining room, shameful wine list, miserable staff and stratospheric prices really put me off returning there even though I do enjoy the food.
You are right to be looking forward to Hawksmoor; Monday’s trip was a veritable scream (especially after the zombie cocktail). The staff are friendly and enthusiastic, the bar is fantastic and the steaks are really terribly good. I’ve only had better steak at one restaurant: Casa Nicolas in Tolosa. If you click here you can see a fun video (in Spanish, but you watch just to see the meat) of the owner Pedro cutting, preparing and charcoal grilling an ox chop. Look at the marbling on that piece of meat! Anyway, you’ll have a great time at Hawksmoor, I always do.
I loved the bone marrow at Hawksmoor though I think you are basing your prices on their online menu which doesn’t match up to the one in the restaurant – they were £4 a portion when were there last month. Still a bargain though.
Have only been to St John once (see my recent post on Ladies Pigfest) and the family style serving was indeed a smnall portion for the number of us and price paid.