The Renaissance Epicurean...: dines at Goodman Mayfair...

Whilst Goodman Mayfair may resemble a NY steak joint, I'm wondering how many of those have a steady stream of diners descending to the meat locker to gawp at their wares... There is so much interest in steak at the moment that steak joints have become destination restaurants - the breeds, the sourcing, the cooking, all to be endlessly poured over.

There are at least three good restaurant groups with dedicated steak houses in London at the moment (including Goodman, Hawksmoor, and Wolfgang Puck's CUT at 45 Park Lane). With such heavy hitters in the market, and with the prices being charged, Londoners are suddenly taking their meat very, very seriously indeed.

Ordinarily I like my steak grilled on the open fire at the Cheyne Walk Brasserie, but one can't ignore the trend towards these places. Having eaten at Burger & Lobster the other day and thoroughly enjoyed it, I though it would be fun to start with Goodman Mayfair. Booking a table proved rather difficult actually, and on arriving we understood why: the room is pretty big, but was packed to the rafters with noisy diners full of bonhomie.... A quick scan of the room identified that at least 80% of the diners are men, and they all seemed to be having a great time! The decor is very much that of a NY diner, all wooden floors, wooden tables, lots and lots of wood. I kept having flashbacks to the Cheers bar, but it feels very authentic, like a London Smith and Wollensky...

Staff are busy and efficient - before you make up your mind, they bring around a platter of raw meat, and explain the various cuts and choices with you. From US ribeye to Irish grass-fed fillet, the choice is impressive. In addition to the menu, any special cuts are displayed on The Cut blackboard, and on our day included Chilean wagyu. I asked about the regulations for cattle rearing in Chile, and this was the only question the staff were unable to answer - I'm guessing not many chaps ask! Didn't stop me from ordering it, but as Japan apparently doesn't export its wagyu, and I think they use Australian at CUT, I was just curious.

To begin I had the pan fried foie gras... Served with roasted dry figs, oyster mushrooms and truffle honey, it was delicately sweet and offset by vinegar in the sauce - the acid is a necessary counterpoint, but here was a little harsh for me. the slice of foie was slim, but perfectly cooked, charred outside, delicate and tender inside.

Himself had the tiger prawn tempura with avocado and mango salsa, and a cajun mayonnaise. The tempura batter was crisp, and the salsa fresh. The combination is a pretty common one, but he liked the heat of the sauce and thought it added to the dish, but tasted more curry than cajun.

We both chose the wagyu, but went for different cuts: I had the sirloin, and he the ribeye. When it came we was completely astonished by the difference in cut. The steaks both look similar, they were both rested fully, with no apparent leakage of blood, and there the similarity ends. The sirloin had a tight, dense grain structure, whereas the ribeye was soft, loose, much juicier and tender. The texture of mine did open little over the next ten minutes, but nothing like that of the ribeye. My béarnaise wasn't the best I've had, but ten minutes later it still had the same consistency, which certainly can't be said of all the examples I've had. Hubby had the peppercorn sauce, which was fiery, creamy and delicious.

As sides we ordered salads, greens beans with shallots and truffled chips. The salad was well dressed, and had good variety of leaves. The truffled chips are delicious - crusty and crunchy, with a very discernible scent and taste of truffle. We discovered that if you dipped the chips into the pepper sauce you had a hit of umami on the front of the palate and the heat of the pepper in the back - a very addictive combination. As Goodman offer to bring you a selection of sauces, do try this for yourself.

Goodman's wine list is very heavy on red, much to the Hubby's delight! Alex, the 'wine guy' noted our choices and offered us something we'd not had before, which was delicious. We had an interesting discussion around different vineyards, and I'm definitely going to be ordering that recommendation - the first red wine I'll have bought for myself in a decade!

Now for the technical bit: a number of us went down to see the meat room in the kitchen - the manager Nik was like the pied piper leading us into the mountain to meet the head chef, Phil... I'm going to do this bit in bullet form...

The meat comes in to be assessed individually by the chef. If he's happy with the offerings, they make it into the locker, if not, they're turned away, regardless of supplier
Meat from this country comes in at around 4 days and is cured in the locker by the staff
Meat from the US and Chile comes in vacuum packs, wet cured, and effectively already aged in the pack, This then needs to be aged for 4-5 days to remove the excess moisture
Any meat of particular merit can be aged for up to 45 days, though typically it's aged for 28 days. During this ageing process there can be up to 25% wastage
Any meat served on the bone is aged for an additional two weeks on site
The room is kept at 75% humidity, and is monitored regularly. The humidity is regulated with a fan, and the room is lined with Himalayan rock salt.
In terms of what they look for, we had a quick discussion about the way in which feeds effect the end product, the cut obviously, the level of marbling and fat around the cut... It would be impossible for me to describe this too you as Tim was holding up particular cuts to demonstrate that to us. Do ask if you can see the locker for yourself.
In Mayfair alone, they're getting through two tonnes of meat a month
On average people are eating under 500g, but just sometimes, someone will come in and order a kilo of steak - yes, a kilo of steak!

Out in the kitchen, the staff operate two ridiculously hot Josper charcoal grills! They are fed twice a day in rotation and take around two hours to come up to temperature... Because of this they are also used in rotation. The chef explained that the four staff who work this section effectively build the grill to the temperature they require - some like it very hot, others prefer to build the heat more slowly. The meat is turned constantly once it's seared, keeping in the meat juices. At the end of service, the grill fed first is considerably colder than the later one... It's insanely hot down there, and as I went in February, one can only imagine what it's like in the summer.

I'll definitely be back to Goodman, it's loud, it's boisterous, and the beef is great - a great place to go with a gang of chums. One tiny bit of advice though: if you're a girl and you're looking to impress a chap, bring him here, he'll utterly love it. And if you're a chap looking to impress a girl, and you don't know her that well, take her for wagyu at the Cheyne Walk Brasserie first. You can always build her up to Goodman...

Other information:

Chilean beef cuts

Beef cattle breeds

An interesting but out of date assessment of the Chilean beef industry

The pictures of the food are my own, the interior shots are from the Goodman web site.

S·T·A·R·T·E·R·S

BEEF CARPACCIO, BASIL CRESS, SHAVED PARMESAN, AGED BALSAMIC AND OLIVE OIL £8

SWEET HERRING, TRADITIONAL RUSSIAN PRESENTATION, HOT MUSTARD AND CORNICHON £8

IRISH SMOKED SALMON BY FRANK HEDERMAN, DARK RYE BREAD, ONIONS AND CAPERS £13

TIGER PRAWN TEMPURA, AVOCADO, MANGO AND CAJUN MAYONNAISE £12

LOBSTER COCKTAIL, GREENS AND LEMON MAYONNAISE £16

LOBSTER BISQUE, TARRAGON CRÈME FRAICH E £7.5

CAESAR SALAD, PARMESAN AND WHITE ANCHOVIES £8.5

WEDGE SALAD, STILTON, TOMATO AND SMOKED BACON £9

BURRATA, SPANISH WAGYU BEEF CHORIZO, GRILLED SOURDOUGH £13

TOMATO, SLICED WITH CRUMBLED STILTON, RED ONIONS AND AGED BALSAMIC £8

PAN FRIED FOIE GRAS, ROASTED FIG, OYSTER MUSHROOM, TRUFFLE HONEY £15

S·T·E·A·K·S

We have teamed up with the finest producers of natural beef in the US and the British Isles.We cut beef every day, please check the blackboards for THE CUT

USDA ANGUS BEEF 150 DAY CORN FED

PORTERHOUSE & BONE IN RIB-‐EYE page1image29064