I have been struggling with this review for a few weeks now. I feel I may have read every review of Hawksmoor that exists. I have listened to media luvvies debate the pros and cons of Hawksmoor and Gauchos till the, beautifully cooked, cows come home. I have heard all the arguments about how wonderful the place is. How the food is amazing, how the wine is fantastic, and the atmosphere electric.
Hawksmoor is getting rave reviews. It seems that now if Gauchos were to vanish in to a puff of 21 day aged smoke the media industry would still be able to survive. Thank god I say. for too long I have worried what would happen if all the marketing directors, creative geniuses, and ad execs had nowhere to spend their friday afternoon's. How would they cope? What would become of the expense accounts? The London media scene may cease to exist. Thankfully Hawksmoor has ended this deep seated fear of mine. There will always be a place for these bastions of our society. God bless you steak restaurants of London. Media could not exist without you.
I have always considered myself more of a beef than lamb man, but on this occasion I am going to have to shed my wolves clothing and become a sheep. I must follow in their footsteps and live the media dream.
Hawksmoor is fantastic. Yes the food is great, but that is not what makes this place great. What takes this fortress of beef to the next level is its service.
As many people will be aware bad service is a particular issue of mine. Why should we pay good money to be treated so poorly? At first I thought it may just be our waitress, but every person we met was a delight to deal with from the slightly hyperactive manager to the receptionist. I do hold special affection for our waitress though. She was as good a waitress as I have seen, attentive, friendly, happy, informed, and understood when to leave us alone. I would ,if I could, name her, but without her permission that would be wrong. Although if you the aspiring theatre director waitress I would once again like to thank you for treating us so well.
From a larger point of view it does concern me that my experiences of good service are so much rarer than those that are of this level. This level of service should be the norm. Other restaurants should take note.
As good as the service was without great food it would have been a wasted journey. Thankfully they have managed to find the perfect balance. I started with a slightly over seasoned prawn cocktail that was full of the plumpest prawns in a delightfully luxurious marie rose sauce. I can forgive the slight over seasoning as the quality of the prawns cut through any issues I had. My wife had the baked Beetroot with goats cheese which again she found delicious, but overly salty. My wife is a lover of salt so possibly the creators of the starters had slipped with their hand, or their platte has taken a beating over the years. For mains we both had a fillet steak, and shared a half lobster, beef dripping chips, and buttered greens. We were also surprised by a portion of beautiful macaroni cheese that we had not ordered; on telling a waitress that we had not ordered it we were told that it was a gift for being nice customers. This is what makes great service a delight. The steak was cooked to perfection beautifully pink, and melt in your mouth tender. The quality of the beef was undeniable, and the decadence of the lobster mouthwatering. Surprisingly it was the beef dripping chips that stole the show. Each chip was like the perfect roast potato, and the flavour of the dripping had soaked through to the core of this humble side dish. When it should happen I would like these chips in my final meal. It was only after our main that we mentioned to our waitress that we were celebrating a special occasion; within minutes two glasses of champagne were at our table, and we were offered a choice of desserts on the house (I told you she was good) . As full as we were my greed managed to order a scoop of cornflake ice-cream to share. With a flavour of the milk you have left after you have eaten all the cereal the ice-cream was the perfect ending.
The only concern I have for Hawksmoor is that the great service is being wasted on those who find it easy to be rude when not spending their own money, but that is no excuse to ever lower your principals.
Oh, before I forget if you get your people to call my people we can do lunch. I know a great steak place...
Hawksmoor, 11 Langley Street, WC2
Tel: 020 7856 2154 (online booking available)
Score:
Food: 4 out of 5
Service: 5 out of 5
Price: an extravagant £70 per head including service and a very nice bottle of Pinot Noir.
Image credits Hawksmoor
Recent Comments