The 6 finest steak spots in London
Ah, steakhouses: the places where you can eat literally just a huge slab of meat, yet still come away from the whole experience feeling like you've just done something quite classy. Despite heavy competition, London can still claim to have some of the world's finest, so obviously we Hunger Games'd them against one another for a power-rank of the capital's top six.
6. Flat Iron
Soho
Upfront disclaimer: Flat Iron does not produce the finest steak in London full stop, but it does probably produce the capital's finest pound-for-pound -- literally the only thing on the menu is the tender flat iron cut (plus side salad) for a mere tenner, alongside a couple of sides, and you'll get an awesome tiny butcher knife to eat it with.
5. Goodman Mayfair
Mayfair
Opened by a Russian billionaire, Goodman straight-up plays the decadence card, with gorgeously low-lit leather-filled interiors playing host to beautifully scorched house-aged, corn-fed beef (which you can top with a lobster tail, or some pan-fried foie), plus a vast 200+ wine list topping out at £2k bottles.
4. Gaucho Piccadilly Circus
Mayfair
When walls, chairs, booths, and pretty much every square inch of the restaurant is covered in cow hides and leather, you know that a places takes its beef seriously -- and the Argentine-style cuts coming out of the kitchen certainly back up that claim, with spiral-cut chorizo steaks, huge slow-grilled lomos, and chimichurri-laden 800g ribeyes.
3. Hawksmoor Seven Dials
Covent Garden
The perennial favourite, it's Hawksmoor's Covent Garden joint that takes the blue ribbon here, though to be fair, the slick art deco throwback interiors, encyclopedic cocktail menus, and tenderly mouth-fellating steaks are pretty much consistent across all branches. The key difference here is the cavernous size, and the chalkboard where you'll find the day's fresh off-menu cow cuts. Worth it alone for their cornflake milk & bourbon shakes.
2. MASH
Soho
Despite being called the "Modern American Steak House", the dudes behind MASH are actually totally Danish, which is fitting, because if you put a Viking in a suit and wanted to appease his bloodlust, this is where you'd take him. Filled w/ red leather, chrome & polished wood, the huge cuts of tender meat (1.3kg porterhouses, Danish ribeyes, Uruguayan tenderloin, Australian Wagyu, etc.) are matched by 80+ whiskeys, and their own house pilsner.
1. Dinner by Heston
Knightsbridge
Strictly speaking, not a steakhouse, but being as it's in the top 10 restaurants in the world and's just picked up its second Michelin, it's pretty much assumed that the centerpiece steak menu here will kind of kick some juicy hindquarters -- you can snag a Hereford ribeye, an Aberdeen Angus fillet, or a gigantic bone-in rib, all perfectly cooked sous-vide for melt-in-your-mouth tenderness, and sided by triple-cooked chips.