In a game of food-word association, if I said Danish, you might say 'pastry', or perhaps 'bacon', but few I would guess would venture 'steak-house' as their reply. But here we are, Denmark's leading steakhouse house company has opened a 300 cover restaurant in the subterranean space next door to Brasserie Zedel just off Piccadilly Circus.
The name MASH, rather than referring to their love of potatoes done in a certain style, is rather an acronym for Modern American Steak House, and the group behind MASH already operate four similar steak houses under this brand in Denmark. At the time of writing, the restaurant has been open less than a week and we're taking advantage of a 50% off food soft opening offer. While there were one or two service hiccups, nothing major, and overall, for a restaurant open less than a week, it was a pretty good showing by the team. Staff are enthusiastic and attentive and keen for genuine feedback on the operation; many are over from Denmark temporarily to oversee the launch with some even permanently.
The name MASH, rather than referring to their love of potatoes done in a certain style, is rather an acronym for Modern American Steak House, and the group behind MASH already operate four similar steak houses under this brand in Denmark. At the time of writing, the restaurant has been open less than a week and we're taking advantage of a 50% off food soft opening offer. While there were one or two service hiccups, nothing major, and overall, for a restaurant open less than a week, it was a pretty good showing by the team. Staff are enthusiastic and attentive and keen for genuine feedback on the operation; many are over from Denmark temporarily to oversee the launch with some even permanently.
glass cases of hanging beef line the dining room
Much of the room is in an art deco style with columns and lighting, while furniture serves up red leather seating and dark wood tables. Given that Goodman were similarly non American aiming for the American steakhouse look, there's some overlap in design, which also extends to the glass walled beef ageing room, though here, it is more of a design feature because with 300 covers (plus another 50 at the bar), they would get through the displayed beef in a single service I would imagine.
the dining room (well, a small part of)
We start off with the MASH hamburger, which comes with chilli fries. On ordering, there's a little confusion by the waitress of how they're able to cook the burger (not medium rare it seems), she suggests rare is possible but we think she meant well. We chalk that to soft opening credit.
The burger is a little underwhelming when it arrives, the bun strangely flat, giving it the appearance of a well filled panini; the density of the bun also doesn't really suit. The patty itself is quite nice, the usual fillers on top and well melted cheese all positives, but we ended up saying overall: this burger would be quite nice at... a stadium... a high street fast food joint... a motorway service station. It is simply not however the quality of a Goodman/Hawksmoor burger that presumably MASH must see as their natural competition. Maybe this is how burgers are in Denmark.
The burger is a little underwhelming when it arrives, the bun strangely flat, giving it the appearance of a well filled panini; the density of the bun also doesn't really suit. The patty itself is quite nice, the usual fillers on top and well melted cheese all positives, but we ended up saying overall: this burger would be quite nice at... a stadium... a high street fast food joint... a motorway service station. It is simply not however the quality of a Goodman/Hawksmoor burger that presumably MASH must see as their natural competition. Maybe this is how burgers are in Denmark.
Burger & chilli fries
But it's the steaks that MASH will thrive or die by, so what have we got? There's basically four country offerings: Uruguay (NY Strip, Ribeye, Fillet), Danish dry aged (sirloin, ribeye, long bone ribeye), American (various) and an Australian Wagyu. Interestingly then, no British beef. I think that might be part of their USP, after all, why be a Danish steak house and do exactly what Hawksmoor are doing with their Yorkshire Longhorns.
The Danish beef is dry aged for 70 days and we opt for the Long Bone Ribeye (500g with bone) which is priced normally at £42. Given the 50% discount for soft opening, we also try the Australin Wagyu (200g) which normally is 'reasonably' priced at £50: CUT at 45 Park Lane for this charge £82 for 6oz (170g).
Sharing the two steaks between us, it comes to the table in a pan and both are carved at the table. The Wagyu is so juicy it's like chewing a wine gum, it almost bursts in your mouth. So pretty good and perfectly cooked, but generally we have a preference for dry aged beef. Here the Danish steak is decent, somewhat under seasoned and a pinch of salt added at the table improved it no end. But is it an improvement on British beef though? For us the answer is no, so while good, the most recent ribeye steak we've enjoyed (British beef at Hawksmoor) was in my view better.
The Danish beef is dry aged for 70 days and we opt for the Long Bone Ribeye (500g with bone) which is priced normally at £42. Given the 50% discount for soft opening, we also try the Australin Wagyu (200g) which normally is 'reasonably' priced at £50: CUT at 45 Park Lane for this charge £82 for 6oz (170g).
Sharing the two steaks between us, it comes to the table in a pan and both are carved at the table. The Wagyu is so juicy it's like chewing a wine gum, it almost bursts in your mouth. So pretty good and perfectly cooked, but generally we have a preference for dry aged beef. Here the Danish steak is decent, somewhat under seasoned and a pinch of salt added at the table improved it no end. But is it an improvement on British beef though? For us the answer is no, so while good, the most recent ribeye steak we've enjoyed (British beef at Hawksmoor) was in my view better.
bone in ribeye and Australian Wagyu
as above
There's chilli fries that come with the hamburger and twice cooked chips but the chips we didn't like. Dry and without charm, we left them almost in their entirety. This I'm sure will be changed in due course when customer feedback is taken on board.
regular chips
A side of Caesar salad was uninspiring.
Caesar salad
The macaroni and cheese however was very good indeed and we were chasing the last of the macaroni around the bowl. This was the best of the sides we tried.
macaroni and cheese
The regular price of desserts at £10 seems somewhat expensive. Both follow the same formula, a slab of cake paired with ice cream on biscuit crumb. The chocolate dessert, while rich, was not actually that satisfying with the expected intensity from the chocolate absent. Cheesecake was better however but prices do seem too much for a reasonably basic offering.
chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream
MASH cheesecake with raspberry sorbet
With MASH so ridiculously large, even with seating for 300, there's plenty of space. Tables are large and comfortably situated so you don't have to listen to other people's conversations which we also liked. What was really nice (on our visit at least) is that with the restaurant not full, tables that could accommodate four people were laid up for two so you even have a lot of physical table space.
MASH is a good restaurant and they will undoubtedly do well, though filling something so large night after night will test even London's appetite for steaks surely. Admitting too that this is the soft opening, some things will change in time (let's hope it's the chips), though the beef, surrounds and service are good enough to justify this being a quality steakhouse. But in our opinion, the overall offering falls a little short of the market leaders who offer, quite frankly, an experience that would be hard to improve on. MASH might get there in time, but they have a little way to go.
MASH is a good restaurant and they will undoubtedly do well, though filling something so large night after night will test even London's appetite for steaks surely. Admitting too that this is the soft opening, some things will change in time (let's hope it's the chips), though the beef, surrounds and service are good enough to justify this being a quality steakhouse. But in our opinion, the overall offering falls a little short of the market leaders who offer, quite frankly, an experience that would be hard to improve on. MASH might get there in time, but they have a little way to go.
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