When we were planning our Christmas trip to London we wanted to book a couple of nice restaurants and by chance I read a review of Zelman Meats by Jay Rayner. I loved the story and decided to reserve a table. Fast forward a few weeks and we were wandering around a very cold, wet, miserable Soho with rumbling stomachs. We were a couple of hours early so stopped at a bar for a pint or two and in the end turned up at Zelman Meats to see if we could bring our reservation forward! ‘Not a problem’ they said, grab a seat and we’ll get your table ready. Perfect. We had a few drinks and tried to stop ourselves salivating over the menu.
The design of the restaurant is pretty cool. It’s quite industrial with tiled floors and walls, an open kitchen, wooden benches, blackboards, exposed air ducts, low lights and steel pillars yet feels very comfortable. We were seated at a booth and quickly ordered. The concise menu, as you’d expect, is meat heavy with food ordered by weight. We chose 300g of chateaubriand, 200g of pichana and short rib with a side of chargrilled broccoli and chunky chips.
I had to stop greg from ordering everything on the menu…..
Our food arrived quickly and it was awesome. You know when food is so good you giggle a bit and nod as you eat it? That good. The meat was chargrilled and crisp on the outside but so tender and well seasoned, it was full of flavour. The triple cooked chips and broccoli with anchovies, garlic and chili were the perfect accompaniment. The Holy F**k mayo was well named, a little too spicy for me!
We were both so sad when we finished but genuinely didn’t have room to squeeze anything else in, not even dessert. We left very full and very happy. If you’re in the area I’d recommend a visit, booking advisable. We paid about £100 for our meal including drinks and service. Oh, the service by the way was excellent throughout.
Eat. Sleep. Repeat 