I had walked past Steak and Lobster a few times as it is a short walk from my flat, just near the British Museum. The first time I saw it I did a double take as I thought I read Burger and Lobster, which of course it is not… I thought is it a sister company? Or just an impersonator? I still don’t actually know, but what I do know is that they serve halal steaks and they’ve got a few around London! So basically I stopped caring about the other stuff.
The concept is actually Steak OR Lobster. £20 for a 10oz ribeye or a lobster. You cannot have both (unless you pay double of course), which is a shame because a bit of surf and turf is always nice!
Now I like steak… I mean really like steak, so I was happy when my friends agreed. I called up to make the reservation and also mentioned I will be requiring a halal steak, as they do not serve halal as the norm it is a special request.
The venue I visited is in Bloomsbury, however they also have more in Warren Street, Marble Arch… Plus outside of central in Heathrow, Manchester and Guildford. Now the Bloomsbury venue is part of the Radisson Edwardian Hotel, which I initially was not sure about. Being in London I would never think to eat in a hotel as it’s quite touristy, however the restaurant has its own entrance and until I mentioned the hotel, my friends did not even realise!
So the venue itself… looks good from the outside with a black background and modern logo looks like somewhere you’d want to go. They also have outdoor seating, which would be nice on one of those rare, beautiful London days. Moving inside, the eating area was quite hotel-like. Some colour but quite clean, although I don’t think that detracted from the eating experience.
We sat down and were presented with a decently large menu, but were told there were three options for mains – steak, lobster or vegetarian. We all knew what we were eating so the ordering process was swiftly completed. I mentioned my previously ordered halal steak, but the waiter said it was fine so it seems as though they keep quite a good stock of them. All mains are accompanied by unlimited fries (yes, you read right… unlimited!) and a salad.
We were asked how we wanted our steaks cooked, by default I went for rare. Nom nom! The waiter then said they also do blue… which really got me thinking and I was tempted, but as I hadn’t had the steaks there before I thought I would have mine slightly cooked at least! I’m turning into such a carnivore…
So ordering done, we set about catching up, as the three of us had not got together in about a month… Not such a long time these days really, but of course so much had happened! Work, holidays, weddings…
Then the mains arrived… on a chopping board (yep they’ve jumped on that bandwagon… I don’t sound too cynical do I?). The steak looked impressive… size really does matter… with a large knob of garlic butter on top and the sides served in pots. I saw a similar pot thing done when I was in Holland and I really like it. It makes everything look neat and also with a steak, means the steak juices don’t get on everything.
Now the steak itself… Ribeye has quickly become my favourite cut. The steak here was juicy and tasty. I only kept a little bit of butter on top and added a hint of mustard now and then. As I said, I had my steak rare and it was cooked just right… cooked around the outside, but that was it. Just how I like it!
10oz is a large steak… It took a couple of breaks and (after a few mins of eating in silence) some talking while eating, to get through it all. But get through it all I did, I was very proud of myself 🙂
The not so interesting sides… The chips were more like posh french fries, crispy, thin and good. I didn’t go for a second helping, but the others did. And of course they are unlimited so you can just keep going.
The side salad was fine, just leaves mainly with a little red onion and some crunchy things. Nothing special, but a nice veg accompaniment for an otherwise intense meal!
Other than the food… the service was alright, they didn’t have too many staff and once a big group arrived we were largely ignored. However, all the staff were very polite and helpful once we caught their attention 🙂
All in all, go there. There are several locations around central and their steaks are of good quality. An alternative to Meat Co and although not the cheapest, it’s worth it. I mean who wants to eat cheap steak anyway??
I spoke with the Blomsbury restaurant today. They were adamant that the steak was halal. However when I proved re how they cook the meat they said it’s done on the same grill!!!!!!!
Therefore not halal
LikeLike
Oh that’s not good. Thank you for posting and letting me and everyone know!
LikeLike