Meat, Fish, Fire!

There is only one right way to eat a steak - with greed in your heart and a smile on your face.

Soumeet Lanka

I’ve not done a foodie review for a while so I’m delighted to be able to write about a lovely restaurant, I went to on Thursday evening. It was one of my friend’s birthdays this week, it was a big one with a 0 at the end – lets leave that right there! She’d invited nine of us to The Coal Shed just near Tower Bridge. Now I’m going to sound a little snobby here, I’m not a huge fan of restaurants around Tower Bridge as they tend to be a little pretentious. Having had a word with myself NOT to look at any reviews I went with a fairly open mind and I was very pleasantly surprised!

It’s essentially a Steakhouse with a bit of a twist, the rare breed meat and South Coast seafood is all coal roasted – which gives the food an amazing flavour – who knew!!

Actually, in fairness, the restaurant is beautifully located just behind City Hall where the Mayor works and has a beautiful illuminated water display right outside the front which was rather mesmerising! The menu is surprisingly quite extensive and there’s also daily specials board that offers choice cuts of beef and whole fish to share.

The evening got off to a fabulous start with cocktails all round, I had the Maple Treacle Old Fashioned, wow, smoky and sweet with the flavour of rum and maple syrup through every sip – I wasn’t too sure at first so, I had a second just to be sure!

If you follow this blog, you’ll know I don’t really do vegetarian so this place is heaven! I started with the Short Rib Croquettes which I’m sure I’d had a few years ago when I was in the US. These were fabulous, Crisp on the outside and succulent, melt-in-the-mouth beef on the inside, served up with a horseradish cream, I was already cooing and licking my lips! I did have a little food envy when I saw and had a cheeky taste of my friend’s starter, a Bream Ceviche, honestly, it was to die for!

The restaurant works with small, family run farms to source their meat, they only use native British breeds so, I without much persuasion I had the Ribeye with a Chimichurri sauce, it came with a simple but very tasty Iceberg, Blue Cheese and Bacon Salad and big chunky Beef Dripping Chips that had “eat these and you will have to go to the gym tomorrow”, written right through them. Now I like steak, I always have done and whilst I’m no connoisseur I know it’s very difficult to elevate the humble piece of meat – nobody told the chef this, without any word of a lie, it was one of the best steaks I’ve ever eaten, cooked to perfection exactly how I’d asked for it! I’m not sure if it’s actually the coal roasted cooking method or the fact the quality of the meat was so spectacular, or indeed a combination of the both but, omg, it was divine!

Another issue I have with restaurants around Tower Bridge is the wine tends to be extortionate, okay, the City Social has a Michelin Star but the wine prices in there would make your eyes water. Not such an issue at The Coal Shed, whilst some of the wine was VERY expensive there was a lovely selection of reasonably priced wines, we went for a South African Pinotage which was about £40, (for non-Londoners, that’s VERY good for London!!), and was very pleasant!

Again, if you’ve read any of my food blogs before, you’ll know I always leave a little room for dessert. As the quality of the food and drink was so high, I was anticipating great things and I wasn’t disappointed! I had Caramelised Pear Tatin with Cinnamon ice cream – you know sometimes when you put something in your mouth and it’s so sublime you have to close your eyes to savour the moment? This was one of those moments, I can still taste in now, sweet but not too sweet, spiced but not overpowering and the contrast between the hot tart and the ice cream was nothing short of a triumph! Delicious!

As it was a special birthday and it wasn’t too late we opted for a dessert cocktail, even though it was a school night! I had a Tennessee Milk Punch, Jack Daniels Rye, milk, vanilla and honey, I know that’s what was in it because I grilled the bar tender, there’s no way I’m not going to make some of those at home!

So, with hugs and a final chorus of happy birthday, Gareth Malone we need your help, I jumped into my Uber feeling very happy, very contented, very impressed and perhaps a little bit tiddly!!

What’s on this week?