The concept is simple - you pay £21 and get a steak, fried and salad. You only need to tell them how you like your steak cooked.
On this occasion, the menu was "Entrecote Steak Porte Maillot with its famous sauce, French Fries and Green salad with walnuts." As usual I asked for rare. Salad comes out first, almost like a teaser as every patron is there for meat. The salad wasn't of great quality, but hey, it's a steak joint. The lettuce was soggy in dressing and the walnuts at least gave some texture.
The steak then comes out in its first portion, pre-sliced, smothered in sauce with a beautiful collection of golden skinny fries. Firstly the important part - the steak. The inside is perfectly cooked to order. No complaints there. The local British beef is pretty good quality with nice texture, although I felt the taste was a bit lacking overall. There wasn't the hearty crust of meat/salt flavour (which I expect in any steak, especially from any steakhouse) and I didn't particularly like the Porte Maillot sauce (it is rumoured to be made of chicken liver, thyme, cream & butter) and much preferred a little salt, pepper and mustard. However my fellow diners seemed to enjoy it more - each to their own.
The fries were decent - skinny, crispy, soft. Needing a good sprinkle of salt (and pepper in my case) to bring out the flavour. Maybe it's just me, but I'm used to restaurants serving thick chips. More classy? Perhaps I just associate skinny fries with McDonald's.
Partially through the meal, they top up your plate with some extra meat and a very generous serve of hot fries. Well planned.
We ended with standard desserts of Creme Brulee and Lemon Tarts. Simple sweets and nothing particular about them.
It's not the best steak in town, but scratches an itch. We got lucky in discovering at the end that the Canary Wharf branch has 50% off meals on weekends until January. Steak and fries for £10.50? Bargain.
Next time I would order... well, there isn't really much choice. Perhaps I'd try blue just to see...
