Hawksmoor Spitalfields - Shoreditch, London

At this juncture in British culinary history, no steakhouse is as synonymous with success as Hawksmoor. However, this wasn't always the case. In 2006, when Will Beckett and Huw Gott launched the original restaurant in Spitalfields, they struggled to scrape together enough shekels to give the room a major refurb and left it relatively unchanged from its original iteration. More than a decade later, Hawksmoor Spitalfields is being brought up to speed with a gorgeous refurb and menu calibration that will butter the bovine bread of even the most reprobate gourmands. 

As with all Hawksmoor openings, Will and Hugh have tapped Macauley Sinclair to reimagine the space. The 118 cover interior has been reimagined with many of the fixings and fixtures that define the Hawksmoor aesthetic - think reclaimed chemistry laboratory tabletops from British public schools, parquet flooring from a sanatorium in Northumberland and smoky art deco mirrors gleaned from the Unilever House. Walking in from the hustle and scuffle of Commercial Street, one immediately feels transported to the steak palaces of yesteryear. It's a sublime place to live out your childhood Al Capone imaginings. 

To celebrate all of the hard work on the design, there have been some new menu additions. On the wine list, there are separate sections on Bordeaux and the United States (we availed ourselves of a Viano Vineyards Private Stock Zinfandel from Contra Costa, California). Soon after, our starters arrived. A carpaccio of beef fillet was given a lovely northern Italian interpretation with porcini mushrooms, crispy shallots and umami-rich flavour detonations of parmesan. Salcombe crab with crumpets were on the lighter side and brought back memories of 1950s seaside sojourns. 

For the main course we gave one of their new dishes a whirl. The cast iron steak eschews grill for a searing hot pan fry, then tops it off with onions and bone marrow. While we were apprehensive about missing the tried and tested application of charcoal smoke to beef flesh, we weren't disappointed. We wrapped things up with a dessert inspired by the Tom & Jerez, one of Hawksmoor's most popular cocktails, crafted with grilled pears and an almond sponge alongside a pear and lemon sorbet, gin syrup and Manzanilla cream. It was as good as the libation and will likely be just as popular. 

We really can't say enough good things about the Hawksmoor empire, and suggest you spend an evening where it all started in Spitalfields.