If someone asks me 'what does Christmas mean to you' I might soon have to answer 'eating at Goodman' for it seems the perfect place to go for those Christmas catch up lunches with friends you haven't seen all year. Today, it seemed the perfect place to go eat following Christmas shopping in the West End. A restaurant for all Christmas occasions then.
Turning off Regent Street, it was Pollen Street Social or Goodman Mayfair, but PSS doesn't do all day dining, Goodman does, so Goodman it was. That said, this close to Christmas, even at 4pm the lunch crowd were still there and showing no signs of leaving and we took what was I think the last free table.
Not expecting to be eating out today, we didn't take the normal camera but I did have a compact in my pocket so apologies to Goodman that the pics are not of the usual quality (guess I'll just have to come back yet again).
We know too that we are not the first to review Goodman, so with the aim of having something original to say in the blog post we set up a little experiment:
60 day aged USDA bone in ribeye vs 28 day aged Scottish bone in ribeye
The USDA 60 aged bone in ribeye has been aged in Goodman's own dry ageing room. What this mean is that moisture leaves the beef while it ages causing the meat to substantially shrink. This has two effects. First, it should mean the beef has a very concentrated flavour. Second, it means the beef is also very expensive (somebody has to pay for the shrinkage after all).
Also of note, the USDA beef is corn fed while the Scottish beef is grass fed. The thing is, chickens are supposed to eat corn, cows surely are supposed to eat grass. The result of the corn feeding is that the beef tends to be sweeter, a little less beefy, and has a softer texture. Would the concentration induced as a result of the extra ageing vault the US beef past its 28 day aged Scottish rival?
In the usual Goodman way, both steaks were excellently cooked. They come with a choice of sauce, we both went for Bearnaise for Goodman do an absolutely excellent one, and we had a side of hand cut chips, spinach, and truffled mac 'n' cheese which itself was brilliant; some of the reasons we love Goodman. But how did the steaks fare?
There's no getting away from it, the Scottish beef was better in every way (in our opinion). Yes the extra ageing had imparted more flavour to the USDA steak than would have been the case if it too were only aged for 28 days, but the grass fed Scottish cow didn't need the extra ageing time because the complex flavours were already there.
On texture too, the softness imparted by the grain took away something of value from the meat, such that eating the meat becomes 'too convenient', like baby food. And given the fact it's almost twice the price, well...
We were of course too full for puddings, but we did have starters which can be seen below. But in the great bone in ribeye battle, there was a very clear winner for us: British beef. Anyway, time now to put on my Union Jack PJs and climb under my Union Jack duvet.
Turning off Regent Street, it was Pollen Street Social or Goodman Mayfair, but PSS doesn't do all day dining, Goodman does, so Goodman it was. That said, this close to Christmas, even at 4pm the lunch crowd were still there and showing no signs of leaving and we took what was I think the last free table.
Not expecting to be eating out today, we didn't take the normal camera but I did have a compact in my pocket so apologies to Goodman that the pics are not of the usual quality (guess I'll just have to come back yet again).
We know too that we are not the first to review Goodman, so with the aim of having something original to say in the blog post we set up a little experiment:
60 day aged USDA bone in ribeye vs 28 day aged Scottish bone in ribeye
The USDA 60 aged bone in ribeye has been aged in Goodman's own dry ageing room. What this mean is that moisture leaves the beef while it ages causing the meat to substantially shrink. This has two effects. First, it should mean the beef has a very concentrated flavour. Second, it means the beef is also very expensive (somebody has to pay for the shrinkage after all).
Also of note, the USDA beef is corn fed while the Scottish beef is grass fed. The thing is, chickens are supposed to eat corn, cows surely are supposed to eat grass. The result of the corn feeding is that the beef tends to be sweeter, a little less beefy, and has a softer texture. Would the concentration induced as a result of the extra ageing vault the US beef past its 28 day aged Scottish rival?
In the usual Goodman way, both steaks were excellently cooked. They come with a choice of sauce, we both went for Bearnaise for Goodman do an absolutely excellent one, and we had a side of hand cut chips, spinach, and truffled mac 'n' cheese which itself was brilliant; some of the reasons we love Goodman. But how did the steaks fare?
There's no getting away from it, the Scottish beef was better in every way (in our opinion). Yes the extra ageing had imparted more flavour to the USDA steak than would have been the case if it too were only aged for 28 days, but the grass fed Scottish cow didn't need the extra ageing time because the complex flavours were already there.
On texture too, the softness imparted by the grain took away something of value from the meat, such that eating the meat becomes 'too convenient', like baby food. And given the fact it's almost twice the price, well...
We were of course too full for puddings, but we did have starters which can be seen below. But in the great bone in ribeye battle, there was a very clear winner for us: British beef. Anyway, time now to put on my Union Jack PJs and climb under my Union Jack duvet.
Irish smoked salmon by Frank Hederman, dark rye bread, onions and capers
Tomato, sliced with crumbled stilton, red onions and aged balsamic
Bone in ribeye (x2). Scottish on left, USDA 60 day aged on right
Mac 'n' cheese, truffle sauce and Parmesan
Joking aside, Goodman has become our steak house of choice in London. While at the City branch a week or so back with a friend, no camera and unrecognised as a blogger, it made no difference, we were still treated fabulously well. They have a strong, friendly, service culture running through the organisation and when that's doubled up with great food, well, it makes us just want to go back again and again (err, so I have).
If you check out the menus on line, you will see a lot of USDA beef available, but if having read this you too want to stick to
more locally sourced produce, there's always a huge blackboard offering a vast array of choice in origin, in cut and in weight. Put another way, there's something for everyone Goodman (except veggies perhaps). We simply love it.
Return to homepage
Related links
Goodman City Critical Couple blog post
Goodman website
If you check out the menus on line, you will see a lot of USDA beef available, but if having read this you too want to stick to
more locally sourced produce, there's always a huge blackboard offering a vast array of choice in origin, in cut and in weight. Put another way, there's something for everyone Goodman (except veggies perhaps). We simply love it.
Return to homepage
Related links
Goodman City Critical Couple blog post
Goodman website
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