In the eye of the steak

Steak has been featuring very heavily in my nightlife over the last few days. I suspect this has more to do with being friends with Fletcher than a muscle mass enhancing diet (indeed it would appear to be more of a campaign to pile on the pounds).

Last night I had an impromptu meal at La Pampa Grill on Northcote Rd. This used to be the standard bearer for steak but it has fallen waaay behind Gaucho and my old pal (and chef Ramsay's new pal) Alberto's Santa Maria del Sur. Unusually I opted for sirloin over rib eye, for novelty value I had 2 fried eggs popped on top (I say novelty, everybody was ordering with eggs), some papas fritas (wedges) and veggies, washed down with the house red (£15 and actually very drinkable). Not a bad meal but they have deffo had better days; their chimichurri was very odd, like nothing I've ever seen but I found it pretty average.

On Monday night I cooked myself the best steak I have ever prepared. Much to my annoyance I have never been very good at cooking steak but this time I fucking nailed it. Here's how, steak from the Ginger Pig (rib eye, £8.50), brought to room temp with bruised rosemary and thyme, salt and pepper. A pan with bit of butter and then cooked doing it a la Hugh; turn every minute and season on each turn. Sure it wasn't that healthy, why do you think it was so bloody good?!

And on Saturday I found myself, quite by accident, in Gaucho - not my fav Piccadilly branch sadly but the one by Smithfield Mkt (we couldn't get a table in Smiths, well we could but Fletch refused to stay as they only had 1 type of steak on offer in the wine room floor). The accident occurred on a day of accidents, I never meant to launch myself into an all dayer but it just felt right, the sun was shining, I had walked to Borough Mkt (to get Monday's steak amongst other goodies) and I had zero chores to attend to. I have to admit I had a cracking time boozing with Fletch n' Carters; the Old Red Cow was a real find and The Three Kings by Clerkenwell Green is a belting little boozer too. At Gaucho I drunkenly tucked into a rib eye with chips, spinach and my fav side there; peas, bacon and onions. I also had the cheesy Colombian bread, fooking luv that. Should I mention that one of the diners individually spent over £100 on wine?