We started with a couple of cocktails – I opted for the French House, a gin based cocktail which was refreshing and delicious! Andy had a Hawksmoor Collins; classic with a twist – and it tasted incredible.
Being the foodies that we are we had pretty much decided what we were going to have before we had even stepped into the restaurant, but we took our sweet time perusing the menu and debating which sides to share.
The restaurant itself is stunning: a huge room of banquettes, booths and round tables, all in a old school green and brown style. It was a perfect setting for such a special meal, and the table we had was right at one of the bars, which was great – we loved watching the bar tenders whipping up all the cocktails.
Since we were having steak red wine was a necessity. Our waiter was very knowledgeable about the wines on offer and helped us choose a deep red that had fruity notes, which was exactly what we were looking for.
And then the feast itself arrived! We splashed out and ordered the fillet steaks – although that night they didn’t have enough fillet steaks so we were given a cut of chateaubriand instead, which was incredible.
We both ordered our steaks rare, and they were served perfectly. The steak itself was of the highest quality and it really was as rare as we had asked for: perfection. Also, the portion size was more than generous – I couldn’t even finish mine! More for the birthday boy!
The sides were also marvelous – truly wonderful! I insisted that we have the mac n cheese, which was insanely good. Crispy on the top but full of flavour, and oozing, delicious cheese once you had cracked the surface. It really is a must order when you go to Hawksmoor.
And no steak would be complete without fries right? I didn’t think so! These babies didn’t disappoint either: very crispy on the outside and hot and fluffy on the inside. Whenever fries are done in beef dripping I know they’re going to be good, but these were out of this world. I could do with a serving just now actually…
Having been advised by our waiter that we should order one more side to share, we opted for the roasted field mushrooms and boy oh boy were we happy that we did. They were so tasty and the perfect addition to our meal.
Just look at them! We certainly weren’t short of food at Hawksmoor – though I have to say that almost all of it was polished off by the time we left; it was so good that we had to eat it!
Sauce wise I opted for a Beranaise (it’s my favourite and I always order it) whilst Andy went for the peppercorn, which was also wonderful, though a little too peppery for my taste.
Just look at this gooey mac n cheese…!
As you can probably imagine, we needed a little break between main courses and desserts, but we couldn’t resist! Especially as I had organised to have Happy Birthday written on Andy’s plate, but more on that later.
The dessert menu is a nice length – I’m not a fan of bottomless menus, ’cause when it comes to dessert time I just want something simple and an easy selection is ideal.
I had the peanut butter shortbread with salted caramel ice cream. Oh yeah, it is just as good as it sounds. It was delicious – I mean seriously good. The combination of salt and sugar was divine and I have to say I polished the whole plate.
Andy went for the sticky toffee sundae (sorry for the photo quality, the wine had definitely hit me by this point!) which looked amaaazing! I had a little taste and it really was divine, though there’s no way I’d have been able to finish it – it really was a corker of a pudding!
But here’s my problem… Even though I had emailed ahead, there was no Happy Birthday on the plate. It sounds like a small issue, which it is to be honest, but at a restaurant of this quality I really did expect more. What’s worse is that when I emailed them to say how disappointed I was, it took days for them to reply.
[Update – I received a very kind reply offering us both complementary steaks and a round of drinks when we return. I was more impressed with the email than the offer – I can’t tell you how well thought out and well worded it was.]
It’s sad because we had had such a great evening and the service apart from this had been fantastic. I was especially bitter as the couple next to us were obviously celebrating a birthday as she had a birthday message on her dessert.
But anyway, with very full tummies and having had a fantastic dinner and drinks, we wandered off into the night to get just one more drink before we went home.
A huge thank you to Angie for the recommendation – I asked her for a really good steak restaurant that was classic, but also not too formal and she nailed it with Hawksmoor!
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