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Goodman

Matthew Grant
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Matthew Grant

Matthew Grant

Posted
Posted

Excellent steaks at Goodman last night, probably the best I've had in a London restaurant. I told our waiter that I wanted something quite gamey so a 500g Bone in Sirloin (£27) was from a grass fed animal. Although the menu says "dry aged 28 days" they can apparently go anything up to 50 days depending on the marbelling. Rachel on the other hand ordered a grain fed USDA Prime 350g Striploin (£27) this was wet aged and I was surprised to find myself enoying the less gamey flavour of the grain fed animal a little more than my grass fed beast.

Good chips, creamed spinach and a side salad. Worth popping down to the walk in fridge where they age the meat if only for the magnificent smell. Interesting to see the charcoal ovens as well, they are burning 24 hours a day and around 400 degrees. The one thing I would like to see is a bit more of a crust on the steak, it is well browned but not a crust, I guess this may be difficult in the ovens they use without getting the coals glowing red.

Definitely worth a visit if you need a steak fix.

Incidentally some of the Irish beef is supplied by Jack O'Shea

"Why would we want Children? What do they know about food?"

sunbeam

sunbeam

Posted
Posted

Definitely worth a visit if you need a steak fix.

Incidentally some of the Irish beef is supplied by Jack O'Shea

It gets very mixed/polarised opinions. I liked it a lot, although the russian starters were a bit odd

I fear some people dislike the place on principle rather than on actually eating there

S

gavinhanly

gavinhanly

Posted
Posted

Quite curious about trying Goodman myself. Overall, the reviews seem OK, but nothing spectaclular, but I am partial to a good steak. Given the heroic expense of Palm, it seems to be the best bet for a new steakhouse outing in London at the mo.

Out of curiosity, if you don't mind sharing, how much did the total bill come to inc drink?

Hot Dinners - London's Top restaurants, reviewed by the critics and you
Matthew Grant

Matthew Grant

Posted
  • Topic Starter
Posted

I can't remember the final bill. Steaks are around £27 each, sides £4. The website (HERE is pretty accurate for price.

"Why would we want Children? What do they know about food?"

Sacha Novak

Sacha Novak

Posted
Posted

I have been dying to try some proper USDA Prime beef for a long time. Most beef in New Zealand is grain fed and its a totally different taste experience imo. I find the flavor is slightly more buttery and nutty. Its what I grew up on so I guess I would enjoy it more. So im always on the hunt for that flavor now I live in England!

I have found a great butcher in Marylebone that sells dry aged beef sometimes upto 40 days aged. Its not grain fed though. Its quite expensive too!! two 10 ounce ribeyes costing about £30.

I heat my bbq up to its hottest temp and cover the steak in butter, the butter then melts off onto the coals and smokes the steak slightly. Then I put the lid on for a few seconds and let it sizzle and smoke, then serve it instantly(no resting!). The result is a rare steak thats chard on the outside. Its the closest I can get to the grain fed flavor with the buttery taste.

olicollett

olicollett

Posted
Posted
I have found a great butcher in Marylebone that sells dry aged beef sometimes upto 40 days aged. Its not grain fed though. Its quite expensive too!! two 10 ounce ribeyes costing about £30.

Try Jack O'Sheas if you haven't already, based in Selfridges. I'm not sure they still have their store in Knightsbridge as well. Their prices are surprisingly reasonable and they do cuts like flatiron which make awesome steaks at a very affordable price.

Also - my tip for steak, salt. Have a look at the guide here I found it produced amazing results.

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Sacha Novak

Sacha Novak

Posted
Posted

I love the salt idea! I will try it this weekend. I also put a sprinkling of MSG on my steak if I dont think its good enough on its own. I know a lot of people have an aversion to it but I think it works wonders with some foods (home cooked fries!!)

PhilD

PhilD

Posted
Posted
I love the salt idea! I will try it this weekend. I also put a sprinkling of MSG on my steak if I dont think its good enough on its own. I know a lot of people have an aversion to it but I think it works wonders with some foods (home cooked fries!!)

It looks like a similar technique they use in the US to cook turkey i.e. soaking it in a strong brine solution (and in the foods industry to tenderise/bulk up meats). The salt gets into the meat, disrupts the muscle fibres (de-natures the protein) and thus tenderises the meat. With brining the de-natured proteins then absorb water resulting in juicier meat (the reasons Americans brine "dry" meats like turkey), and the de-natured protein doesn't coagulate on cooking making the meat more tender.

I assume that steak doesn't really need the added moisture from the water in brine, but it would be interesting to experiment...although it could end up really flabby like "factory" produced ham.

olicollett

olicollett

Posted
Posted
I love the salt idea! I will try it this weekend. I also put a sprinkling of MSG on my steak if I dont think its good enough on its own. I know a lot of people have an aversion to it but I think it works wonders with some foods (home cooked fries!!)

Odd, was having a discussion on MSG the other day on another forum the other day - but I wouldn't worry, there's no evidence it does any harm other than anecdotes and internet scare stories!

PhilD - I'm not sure about a wet brine for steak, but worth a try I guess. I doubt it would be that different to the dry salting method. I've done roast chicken before following Blumenthal's brining method which was fantastic.

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PhilD

PhilD

Posted
Posted
I love the salt idea! I will try it this weekend. I also put a sprinkling of MSG on my steak if I dont think its good enough on its own. I know a lot of people have an aversion to it but I think it works wonders with some foods (home cooked fries!!)

Odd, was having a discussion on MSG the other day on another forum the other day - but I wouldn't worry, there's no evidence it does any harm other than anecdotes and internet scare stories!

PhilD - I'm not sure about a wet brine for steak, but worth a try I guess. I doubt it would be that different to the dry salting method. I've done roast chicken before following Blumenthal's brining method which was fantastic.

Oli - I agree, I would assume that as steaks are cooked quickly they don't lose as much moisture so don't need added water like poultry and pork.

sunbeam

sunbeam

Posted
Posted

Odd, was having a discussion on MSG the other day on another forum the other day - but I wouldn't worry, there's no evidence it does any harm other than anecdotes and internet scare stories!

It does make you thirsty though, very thirsty. Other than that, 4 billion chinese can't be wrong!

S

tim g

tim g

Posted
Posted
Most beef in New Zealand is grain fed and its a totally different taste experience imo.

wait what are you sure this is true??? i would have thought that nz beef is grass fed

Sacha Novak

Sacha Novak

Posted
Posted

Odd, was having a discussion on MSG the other day on another forum the other day - but I wouldn't worry, there's no evidence it does any harm other than anecdotes and internet scare stories!

It does make you thirsty though, very thirsty. Other than that, 4 billion chinese can't be wrong!

S

Jeffrey Steingarten!! What a great read that was.

  • 1 year later...
david goodfellow

david goodfellow

Posted
Posted

Been meaning to try this place for ages but whenever we are in London I like to add to my Michelin list so places like this get missed. That said however, we are returning to basics a bit of late, as we are looking at more "honest" food, and this just fits the bill.

I did not preplan our visit I had an open mind on the day as to where we would eat assuming we would get a table at the handfull of places that I had in reserve. Although this place had been brought back into focus because of their new opening in The City.

For some strange reason I did not have my greedy head on and decided that a steak would be wasted on me but this was of no consequence as the famous Goodman burger was to be put to the test in a comparison to the one we ate recently at Bar Boulud.

Quite dark and moody with an inviting bar, we were seated in a booth which was comfy and cosy.

The wine list is not that user friendly, but no matter we fancied beer with our beef. We craved a good old English brown ale but this was not to be so we sampled some pilsner which was not too bad.

I must mention the bread, which is bought in, it surprised me a bit as it is very good indeed.

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Mrs G started with (for me)a bit too al dente risotto, but she disagreed and thoroughly enjoyed it. It was creamy and full of seafood flavour, juicy tiger prawns, salmon, lobster butter, and a sprinkling of chives.Quite a decent portion too.

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I, at this point changed my mind on the burger as on the set menu I noticed a caesar salad followed by a New York strip loin so as they both appealled, on balance, this was the direction to take.

We make this at home quite a bit, as a Chicken caesar, however its not easy to find the white anchovies where we live, although having said that our local fish wholesaler had a box of spanish ones a few weeks back which were devoured with great pleasure.

The Cos ( Romaine ) lettuce was perfectly dressed, each and every leaf was covered, rich flavoured parmesan, fruity olive oil, very fine crispy croutons and of course the tasty anchovies. Ok so nothing really out of the ordinary just a classic dish very well done and really surprisingly quite filling.

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Next up the burger which is very good value (£12) considering that there is no extra charge levied for sauteeded mushrooms, bacon, cheddar cheese, fried onions, or even a fried egg.

We opted for all of the extras except the fried egg, but guess what, the burger that turned up had a fried egg but none of the other stuff so it went back. Ok, so no big deal not many minutes passed before the correct order appeared.

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Now this is one big hunk of meat, I guess a third to a half bigger than the Bar Boulud one, and not one to be man handled by my lady wife, or even by myself come to think of it.

The cheese and especially the bacon were welcome additions. I thought at first a hint of smokiness to the bacon but on reflection am perhaps wrong.

The beef was well tasty, juicy, moreish and very filling. As this was not my dish I could not linger too long on it as I had my own dish to confront. Not much to choose between the one here and the Bar Boulud one, but I think the latter just edges it a bit though. Just a tad more accessable too as you can pick it up to scoff it down.

Having said all that, this place is high up there for one of the best burgers in town.

My 8oz USDA New York strip loin on the set menu is fantastic value, the caesar and steak are only £18 and given the quality of the steak alone is a steal.

It was served with a potent black peppercorn sauce which for me was great but I suspect some may find it a tad overpowering.

The steak itself fulfilled all of the promise and had very little waste which added to the high value of the dish. When it arrived table side my nostrils sucked in all of the wonderful aroma.

The chips were terrific, top notch and whenever I eat chips now, I compare them to Hestons triple cooked ones we ate at the Hinds Head, and also Domonic Chapmans at The Royal Oak.

These were as good, if not better and that is saying something.

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For once after two courses we were stuffed, my wife even leaving most of her chips which saddened me because they were so good.

Were not "coffee people" but the manager "insisted" we take one on the house because of the mix up in the burger order. With a promise of a view of the kitchen with its famed Josper (Hosper) grills, who was I to argue.

Down to the basement kitchen next, to look at the walk in "cold room" with its two fans drying out the premium meat. I was told up to 20% in weight is lost over twenty days or so plus the crust is trimmed making this some pricey beef indeed. The beef can be aged for more than double this amount of time and a lot longer in some cases.

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Some prime USDA hunks of beef to the right (don,t get excited girls) and some Irish at the rear.

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Two grills in operation throughout the day and night.

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IronChef in action, and I'll tell you what, if you think your jobs tough, spare a thought for this guy, the blast of heat from those ovens sears eyebrows believe me.

Imagine doing a shift in that sort of heat, it sorts the men from the boys I assure you.

Talk about working at the coalface, and he has a beaming smile on his face, good man,

Or should that be GOODMAN?

image_0009.jpg

Well as you can probably gather we really enjoyed our visit to Goodman and at just over £50 for two, this is the cheapest London meal we have ever eaten, and can think of a number of meals costing double and more that we derived no more pleasure from.

I'm glad we finally made it.

"So many places, so little time"

http://londoncalling...blogspot.co.uk/

@d_goodfellow1

david goodfellow

david goodfellow

Posted
Posted

Ok, I'm sold. Do you think it would someplace we could go with a toddler?(Lunch or Early dinner of course.)

Most certainly.

Ask for a booth when you book the table, explain you have a kiddy in tow and any preferences that you may have, such as by a window, a quiet corner etc.

Manager Giovanni Lombardi looked after us,mention this thread and I'm sure he will look after you. :smile:

"So many places, so little time"

http://londoncalling...blogspot.co.uk/

@d_goodfellow1

  • 2 weeks later...
ambra

ambra

Posted
Posted

Finally went last night. I'm afraid by sheer coincidence though, we ordered all the same things!!

We loved the risotto even though it was just a bit too creamy (as in CREAM) but just loved that little touch of was it Pernod? in the background. Glad it had actual pieces of lobster in it!

We order the mac and cheese for my son, but he ate the risotto! We had the most divine Creamed Spinach. Perfectly spinachy and creamy.

We ordered the Ceasar Salad and the burgers. All excellent. The burger reminded me of the burger at Spotted Pig in NYC. Delicate, Medium Rare, Perfect mince. I was going to order the lobster bisque and asked the waiter what he thought, he said "....it's good" and I said that he didn't sound very convincing. And he said the only thing he doesn't like on the menu is the Pate. For some reason, I still changed my order.

Chips were also very good. But we didn't have much room for them.

Beer Crisp and Cold and best Pinot Noir by the glass I've had in ages.

Excellent, excellent, excellent service by staff as a whole. Very kind to my son who thankfully was well behaved. The place was full of business men having business dinners.

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