Goodman's wine list is very heavy on red, much to the Hubby's delight!

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, under cabinet bread box 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.... under cabinet bread box 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, under cabinet bread box 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, under cabinet bread box and this was the only question the staff were unable to answer under cabinet bread box - 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. under cabinet bread box 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 under cabinet bread box 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 under cabinet bread box and tender.  The texture of mine did open little under cabinet bread box 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, under cabinet bread box 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 loc