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Location:
Telephone number: 0207 490 1676
Website: www.gauchorestaurants.com
Date of visit: 25 November 2009
Approximate cost per head: £45+
Comments on wine list/beer: Very extensive and expensive wine list especially Argentinean wines
Summary:
This restaurant occupies a large room between Smihfield Market and the Barbican.
There are two kitchens, an open grill on show to the diners and one at the back where they prepare the additional parts to the meal.
The room is “darkish” with black tables and chairs covered in black and white hides and it is part of an upmarket chain of steakhouses.
On the day we went, the place was half full with diners mainly on expense accounts.
The steaks start at 250g and goesw up to 400g. You have a choice between rump, ribeye, sirloin and fillet. You then add potatoes, vegetables, sauces etc. There are other dishes on the menu such as empanadaes and several Argentinean dishes etc. The meat is brought to the table on a block of wood – just in case you do not know what cut you want or is not aware of the amount of fat on the different cuts. You can also have their version of mixed grill at £39 or a sample platter of the different steaks.
We chose fillet, ribeye and rump between us.
My ‘medium’ rump was cooked on the rare side – they are using US definition instead of UK definition. The steak was well seasoned and well cooked. However, I then had the saltiest chips and vegetables I have had for a while. I do not know if the chef had an off day or he/she preferred to go OTT. I did not complain as our “friends” were obviously happy with the amount of salt. So beware!
The wine list is something to behold. There are pages of Argentinean wines listed by the type of grapes as well as the usual “old world” wines. They also showed the altitude next to the vineyard – completely meaningless to me even though my understanding is that the higher we go, the cooler it gets. We had a bottle of Cab which was excellent.
On the whole, it was a good meal but restaurants need to understand that there are a few of us that are trying to reduce our intake of salt.
Eddie
