The Meat & Wine Co - Mayfair, London

Alright, let's shoot straight. Steakhouses will always be perennially popular in big cities like London. While the market might be a bit crowded and there's been a shift away from meat-led restos over the past decade, there's always plenty of room to knock it out of the park, and that's just what The Meat & Wine Co aims to do with their big ticket outing on Mayfair's Curzon Street, following on from a successful run of eateries in Australia. Of course, to really stand out, you need a unique selling proposition. The Meat & Wine Co leans into the braai culture of South Africa. One enters the dining room from a statement entrance festooned with enough flowers to fuel a thousand bouquets. Inside, things take a turn for the Afro-centric with a high-spec underpinning. Banquettes and cushions are Zulu print, there are outsized sepia maps of South Africa, as well as room dividers and stations that look to be crafted from adobe. The dining room is perfectly sized, set across two floors with a lower ground floor that can be utilised for private events. We settled in quickly with the menu. A starter of tuna carpaccio was skilfully done - the seared tuna laden with black sesame, burnt pickled cucumber, soy dressing and a champagne pearl and oyster emulsion. King prawns were spiked with XO butter, fermented chilli sauce and coriander. We also really loved the skewers, particularly the one with brined chicken thigh and an XO basting. The ribeye was excellent - a grass-fed crossbreed of Angus and Hereford from Northern Ireland - served a ruby red medium rare. We wrapped up our meal with a classic baked chocolate and hazelnut fondant with a melted white chocolate centre and a hazelnut praline gelato, which hit the mark and sent us happily off into the evening.  The Meat and Wine Co attests to the fact that even in a city as well catered-for as London, there's still room for a savvy newcomer, and especially when it comes to steak.