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| USDA Prime Dry Aged Sirloin Steak, Smith |
I'm just going to get straight to the point, this place IS expensive. With these higher end American Steakhouses like S&W and Mash, you are going to pay more but they source incredible steak, the type that the popular steak places about like Hawksmoor or Goodmans and others don't have and if you're a true steak fanatic then you'll definitely like it here, but you have to order the right steak!
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| Dining Area, Smith & Wollensky, London |
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| Gradvalax, Smith & Wollensky |
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| Spicy Prawns, Smith & Wollesnky |
Smith & Wollensky are situated close to Charing Cross station and Trafalgar Square in London and boast two large dining rooms that specialise in serving USDA Prime steak. USDA Prime is typically hard to get (even in the USA) by the average Joe because it's often quickly snapped up. It is well known for its juicy, buttery flavour and tenderness which makes it quite a superior steak. Obviously its not in the truly exquisite league of Andre Polmard's 2000 vintage Cote de Beouf, or Kawamura's Kobe from Japan, but for a special night of steak, its hard to beat.
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| USDA Prime Sirloin 395grams, Smith & Wollensky London |
If you go to Smith & Wollensky, forget about the Irish or British steaks on the menu, you are wasting your time. The whole point of going to S&W is to experience the USDA Prime, and it is very good indeed. I would always advise folk at the American Steakhouses to order a steak with the bone, its often juicier but they are typically more expensive. We had a salmon gradvalax and spicy prawn starter and while these were delicious, it really is about the steak and chips/frites. Yes, it is essential that you always have chips with steak and they have to be every bit as good.
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| USDA Prime Kansas City Bone in Sirloin 595grams, Smith & Wollensky London |
I ordered a USDA Prime aged sirloin, just under 400 grams and my partner in crime The Chic Geek (oxymoron) went for the Kansas City Bone in Sirloin 595 grams. My sirloin was definitely tender, juicy and all encompassing in terms of flavour, as good as I imagined and on its own, praiseworthy. However, it took a bit more coercing than normal, but when the chic geek shared the Kansas City Bone-in Sirloin with me it was distinctly different and even better. The incredible thing was that every mouthful had a rendered marbling of fat, I'm not just talking about being juicy or anything like that, because it was that too, but it was like you got the tasty bit of fat on the end of the steak in each bite - it was quite extraordinary. It is difficult to capture a good steak on camera in low light, but it is much much better than what it appears in the pic.
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| Bar & Dining, Smith & Wollensky London |
Their fries/chips/frites were perfect, crispy not too thin and seasoned well and taste like potato. I'd love to come back here just for the Kansas steak, some chips and decent wine - the wine menu is good with reasonable prices but the lower priced wines could be better, sooo the wine prices threw me off. I had no room to experience a proper dessert, I hear their sharing chocolate cake is very good. Overall, I really liked it here, the waiting staff are engaging, chatty and know everything about the steaks, but really the steaks are incredible.
The Dodgy Stuff
The girls on the door - when you check in your coats & scarves, make sure you have everything when you leave. When I went to leave, they only handed back my coat, missing a scarf. The coat lady was weirdly defiant and just stood there watching me while I was looking through my coat and all around for it, until I explicitly said it was missing and if I could please have it. The security guard noticed and queried if my scarf was missing, when I said yes he shook his head knowing this had happened before and looked disapprovingly at the coat check lady. This seemed quite a brazen attempt at theft if I'd not asked for it, then its not stealing right? wrong, that is dodgy and I wonder what else goes missing from coats. Everything else was really great, all the other staff were fantastic and this was just one silly thing that happened on my visit.
