Name: JW Steakhouse
Where: The Grosvenor House Hotel, 86 Park
Lane, London W1K 7TN
Cost: An
average of £75 per person plus service. From the standard dinner menu, starters
range from £8 to £27, main courses from £16 to £44 (for the Tomahawk rib eye
steak), and desserts from £7 to £14 (for the fabulous cheesecake).
About: Having visited JW Steakhouse in October 2013 (reviewed here) and thoroughly enjoyed my meal there, I looked forward to returning a couple of weeks ago to try their new seasonal menu.
About: Having visited JW Steakhouse in October 2013 (reviewed here) and thoroughly enjoyed my meal there, I looked forward to returning a couple of weeks ago to try their new seasonal menu.
JW Steakhouse opened in 2010 at the
Grosvenor House Hotel in Mayfair's Park Lane, and is one of the few restaurants
of its kind in London featuring grain-fed American USDA certified beef from
Creekstone, as well as grass-fed Aberdeen Angus from Macken Brothers of
Chiswick.
The menu, not surprisingly, is focussed on
steak. The restaurant is situated on the ground floor of the hotel, which
opened in 1929, and after extensive renovation was opened as a JW Marriott
hotel in 2008.
Despite its fancy location on Park Lane,
the restaurant has a rather casual and laid-back feel about it akin to an
American Steakhouse. It is frequented by hotel guests and Londoners alike and
on the night we were there, the place was full.
The restaurant has one of those super-duper
Montague Legend Radiant Grills that sears meat at 650°C, giving a perfect and
even seal and juicy steaks with fantastic flavour.
What We Ate: I rarely mention a
restaurant’s bread basket in my restaurant reviews but I could not let the JW Steakhouse’s Parker House Rolls go unreported. These feather-light, buttery
rolls with a crispy shell and crusted with sea-salt were utterly delicious.
They date back to the 1870s when they were invented at the Parker House Hotel
in Boston, where they are still being served.
Knowing that we would be having a very
meaty dinner, we opted for the Seafood Platter for 2 (£28) to get things going.
With a selection of rock oysters, jumbo shrimp and lump crab, this was a delicious
and refreshing starter, accompanied by a delicately sweet Mary Rose sauce made
from tomato chutney and mayonnaise.
For the main course, we decided to compare grain-fed
American versus grass-fed British beef. We chose the American USDA Porterhouse
Steak (£59 for 800g – a serving for 2) that came with a very well-made
Béarnaise sauce. The steak was excellent, thick but tender, well-marbled and
richly flavoured, the meat was cooked rare just as requested. This was a
fantastic steak.
We ordered the British Rib-eye (£32 for
400g) with an optional topping of Oscar lump crab, asparagus and Béarnaise (£8
extra). This was again very good and beautifully cooked, but in my opinion, it
lacked the richness and intense savoury qualities of its American cousin. We would
have been completely happy with the British Rib-eye had we not just tried the
USDA Porterhouse though.
The magnificent lobster mac ‘n cheese which
we had at our last meal at JW Steakhouse (and probably one of the reasons for
our return visit) was unfortunately not available on the night. Instead, we shared
a Cheddar Mac 'n Cheese (£6). The texture was just right - neither watery, nor
too dry, and with plenty of nutmeg. The
only pity was that, for my palate, the cheese used to make the sauce could have
been a bit more robust.
We also had the Iceberg Wedge with Blue
Cheese and Crispy Bacon (£9). This was delicious, with salty blue cheese &
bacon contrasting so well with the refreshing lettuce.
With our steaks, chips were just too
tempting to miss. So we ordered a portion of Fries with Truffled Salt (£5).
These were excellent and crispy although the flavour of truffle was not totally
obvious to me.
For dessert, there was no doubt in our
minds but to go for the restaurant’s signature Cheesecake (£14). Described in
their menu as “the best cheesecake this side of the pond”, this is indeed no
exaggeration. This heavenly creation is a must-have I remembered from my
previous visit. It is magnificently creamy and rich, but also light due to the
use of soured cream that gives it a refreshing acidity. The cheesecake is for 2
people although it is far too much to eat in one sitting. The staff are well
used to that and have specially designed carriers for diners to take the
cheesecake home safely to enjoy for breakfast.
What We Drank: We shared a bottle of Paul
Jaboulet Crozes Hermitage Les Jalets 2010 (£38). This was a very good match for the beef, with
powerful blackberry fruit flavours and plenty of tannin. Given that it is available
from The Wine Society for £15, a mark-up of only just over 2 fold for a Park
Lane hotel seemed very good value. The entry-level red wine is £34.
Likes: Excellent quality USDA and British beef,
expertly cooked. The most delicious cheesecake I can remember. Great wine
selection, with a very reasonable mark-up.
Dislikes: Having a TV constantly showing
sporting fixtures was the only downer. Prices are on the steep side.
Verdict: Top notch steaks, a fantastic wine selection and excellent service make JWS one of the best steakhouses in London. A perfect meal for me here would be their USDA Porterhouse steak, the lobster mac 'n cheese, followed by the signature cheesecake - all unmissable. Very highly recommended.
Verdict: Top notch steaks, a fantastic wine selection and excellent service make JWS one of the best steakhouses in London. A perfect meal for me here would be their USDA Porterhouse steak, the lobster mac 'n cheese, followed by the signature cheesecake - all unmissable. Very highly recommended.