Historical version 29 of Hawksmoor, E1 6BJ (view current version)

A very well-reviewed and externally unassuming steak house on Commercial Street at the north edge of the City. Its popularity means that it's strongly advisable to book in the evenings, though walk-ins at lunchtime may be possible.

All the meat is sourced from the Ginger Pig and is of high quality. They mark weights in grammes and can obtain pretty much any cut of meat if you ask 48 hours in advance. Although the menu is focused on steak, they do have a daily-changing vegetarian option. They usually have extra steak cuts that aren't on the menu; these are marked on a board on the wall.

Martin visited in January 2009. Three steaks on the menu were priced per 100g rather than outright — prime rib and porterhouse (both £6/100g), and Chateaubriand (£12/100g). The menu also warned that the prime rib and porterhouse are large. Upon enquiry, it emerged that one must select from certain fixed weights — we asked about the porterhouse and were offered 750g or 800g. Fortunately, they are quite happy for two people to share the larger steaks (in the end, two of us shared the 800g porterhouse). The quality of the meat and cooking were excellent — the steaks are grilled over charcoal, giving a great smoky flavour to the outside of the meat, with the inside juicy and melting. To accompany, we had chips, field mushrooms and creamed greens (all around £4-£5). The menu proclaims the chips as "triple-cooked" — they were superbly crunchy. All portion sizes were large — apart from the very large steak, the sides were all more than enough to share, and the starters we had (Tamworth belly ribs and crab and crayfish cocktail) were both very substantial. Neither of us had room for dessert (which seems a common theme among the reviews).

bob and several other RGLers visited in October 2009 to celebrate bob's birthday. We booked a table for 10 and they seated us in the back room. For large parties they do take credit card details for the booking, and say there will be a £10 charge per person for no-shows; we were one person short but there was no extra charge. All in all it was a very good meal. bob thoroughly enjoyed his 1.1 kg of Chateaubriand and still had enough room for dessert (a slightly disappointing trifle; £6). They lost one of the steaks from our order, but were quick to rectify this and didn't charge us for it. Other than this, service was fine and they coped well with the large group.

They serve a large range of cocktails (including two pages of juleps and a range of punch bowls) at about £7.50 a glass, a few beers (none of which Martin recognised) and good range of wines varying from £25 to silly money. They also have a very well-stocked bar for spirits. In February 2009, Martin tried an IPA, which was palatable but rather fizzy (probably out of a bottle). A cocktail ("Cobra Fang") came in an enormous glass (at least a pint) shaped like an Easter Island head, and was very good. In October 2009, bob enjoyed the pineapple and sage mojito (£7.50).

See also:

Last visited by bob, Kake, Billy, Martin and several others, 22 October 2009. Opening hours taken from the Hawksmoor website, November 2009.
OS X co-ord: 533559 OS Y co-ord: 182057 (Latitude: 51.521137 Longitude: -0.074715)
This is version 29 (as of 2010-01-07 12:22:17). View current version. List all versions.