Holborn Dining Room
When my parents visit London there is a pressure I put on myself to chose a restaurant. There are a few criteria that I am guided by. It should be somewhere 'different' to what my parents get at home; an experience they can tell their friends about; and somewhere with decent food.
One such place is the Holborn Dining Room, located in the Rosewood Hotel. After an excellent afternoon learning how Beefeater gin is made I wanted to carry on the gin theme, and the Dining Rooms boasts an impressive 500+ gins, and the menu promised some decent British treats - pies and steaks.
The inner courtyard of the hotel often has a pop up bar - the Monkey 47 gin sponsored winter lodge serves amazing gin cocktails, definitely worth a visit before dinner if you can get a table. Don't worry about the cold, the fire columns and heated seats warm you up from the outside, and the hot gin cocktails from the within!
Inside, the impressive dining room resembles a New York brasserie, in the style of Balthazar. The menu has an excellent mix of British dishes ranging from older times with a duck, pork & pistachio en croûte to changing times with a curried mutton pie. The stand out starter was the scotch egg.
I was immediately drawn to the 35 day aged "Club Cut" ribeye steak with green peppercorn sauce and onion rings.
The steak arrived medium rare as requested, and the texture resembled a high quality prime rib covered in a rich gravy. The meat melted in the mouth and was perfectly accompanied with a touch of heat from the sauce.
The onion rings were crispy, and stayed crispy, even when they lingered in the sauce.
The richness of the dish didn't really require the truffled parmesan fries, but I can never resist those when found on a menu!
Another steak from the grill menu - the 50 day aged Cornish rare breed sirloin.
It had bags of flavour and was cooked to perfection. The caramelised crust on the steak was well seasoned and the fat had been rendered to a crisp finish.
The béarnaise sauce provided the acidic edge to cut through the meat and a side of Brussel sprout tops reminded me of my childhood.
There is a lot more than just steak on the menu. The pot roast lamb breast was cooked until meltingly tender, giving an intense meaty burst in the mouth.
The celeriac remoulade cutting through the richness of the rolled meat.
I would definitely recommend the Holborn Dining Room, for a special occassion, date night, or just when you want to treat yourself to a great piece of steak!
