Beef @ London Street Brasserie 07/12/2014

It’s probably my last roast dinner review before Christmas.  Next Sunday I am cooking the house Christmas roast dinner and the weekend after I am away.

So I decided to treat myself to one of the more expensive options on my to-do list, London Street Brasserie.

I forgot about the idea of booking ahead and we were lucky to get a table in the bar area – otherwise it would have been a 2 hour wait.  It is a popular restaurant for a good reason or two.

It was a slightly confusing pricing structure.  Having looked at it online, I had concluded that it was £16.50 for two courses, with a surcharge of £3.95 if you wanted cauliflower cheese.

However on closer inspection, it was actually £16.50 for two courses and a £3.95 surcharge if the main course you desired was the roast dinner.  Or £12.80 plus a £3.95 surcharge if you just wanted a roast dinner.  My friend asked the waitress for an explanation of the pricing structure and was given a rather curt “how many bloody times do I have to explain this” kind of response, a rather inauspicious start.

Apologies for the repetition but I had to review roast beef again – it was the only roast on offer.  As far as I can tell they only offer one option each week.  It was my intention not to repeat meats but I’m not the first person from Hull to break a rule.

Our roasts arrives in a timely manner after a 15 or so minute wait, along with the apparently slightly ungenerous medley of vegetables to share between 3 of us, though this notion was dispelled when the cauliflower cheese arrived 2 minutes later, with an apology for it being late.  Definitely enough vegetables overall.

 

The medley of vegetables contained carrots, green beans and mange tout (appropriately-named vegetable considering the DJ “Eats Everything” played in our town on Friday night), topped with parsley.  My imagination seems to recall some broccoli in the mix but the photographic evidence does not concur.  The vegetables were on the right side of crunchy, the mange tout perhaps a little much so.  Personally I cook my vegetables a little softer, but…carrots for courses, as the saying goes.  A real food critic would probably appreciate the crunch more than myself.

There were just two potatoes.  Decent size, cooked through but without a hint of crispiness.  If you are only going to give us two roast potatoes then surely they could be on the crispy side?  It isn’t too difficult – Jamie Oliver taught me – just chuff them up (his words, not mine innit pukka bruv).  I am however content with the quantity as the plate didn’t lack depth – especially with the size of the Yorkshire pudding.

Controversially ignoring my usual order and skipping back to the vegetables - the cauliflower cheese was really nice.  Soft cauliflower with a creamy mild cheese – I cannot tell you which cheese – I can tell the difference between Red Leicester and Cheddar but that is about my limitation.

 

It does look quite superb doesn't it?

The Yorkshire pudding, however, was not so impressive.  It looks impressive but so does Blackpool Tower.  It was overcooked – more crunchy than the vegetables and not even soft-bottomed given the lack of gravy.

  

Now is probably a good time to talk gravy.  It was that discoloured water-based concoction which foodies probably salivate over but confuses us northerners.  It tasted nice, but there was very little of it and had a viscosity possibly lower than superfluid helium.  We asked for more gravy but it still didn’t satisfy requirements - however the little flat hipster-style gravy pan was pretty funky.

Thankfully I am finishing on a high.  The sirloin of beef consisted of two large slices, around 4-5mm thick, cooked perfect to my tastes – quite rare on the inside, medium on the outside with a slight crisp to the edge.  It really was excellent beef.

What else?  Apart from the initial curt response, the service was good, the staff all smartly dressed in black – there did seem to be an abundance of fairly young good-looking girls, which kind of reminds me of Waitrose in Bracknell where all the staff are fresh-faced and good-looking.

I like the restaurant, there is a good feel in there or ‘ambience’ as my posh southern friends from Bracknell might say.  At £16.95 it was the most expensive roast that I have reviewed so far and not the best.

Expectations can be problematic in life.  Like when you pay a load of money to go see a really good DJ/band/opera in London (or whatever your thing) that you are really excited about – and coming back with a slightly flat feeling for you may have had a better night out than the night before down your local when you went out for one beer and had a ton of fun but it doesn’t seem like it because you expected so much more.  So trying to tie in the slightly unexpectedly disappointing analogy, I had high expectations and these were not met.

But it wasn’t a bad roast.

I have had really good meals in there in the past – a quite exquisite lamb shank particularly sticks in the memory.  Really, really good.

If you are going to go on a Sunday then I would suggest choosing another option - £16.50 for two courses at lunch is a good deal for what is a very good dining experience.

It scored a respectable 6.6 out of 10.  I dearly wish I could have rated it higher and I will definitely be back to eat there.  But not for a roast.

Oh gosh I forgot to mention the Watercress.  How could I?!  It had a rather tangy taste to it.  Or maybe it wasn’t watercress?  Forgive me if I’m wrong, we don’t eat salad where I come from.  It was less pointless than the side-salad at Sweeney & Todd but I still didn’t understand it.  Maybe I should just be quiet and appreciate something different?

All being well, I will be back in 3 weeks.  I wish all my readers and enjoyable festive period.