Appeals To

• Rather wealthy people: looking to spend a lot of money on an extremely good meal
• Rather hungry people:  it’s top tier food quality combined with uh… ‘hearty’ American portions
• Steak connoisseurs: it is hard to get better than this. Seriously – the Tomahawk is the best steak I’ve ever had (so far!) 
• Bourbon lovers: amidst an extremely comprehensive drinks menu there’s definitely a bias towards Bourbon  
• Me

Rating:

Cuisine:

American / Southern United States / Steakhouse

In A Word:

Legendary

Welcome to what is possibly my new favourite restaurant…

…myself and your co-Founder Jack are some of the most fanatically dedicated consumers of rarely cooked beef you’ll find, this side of The Pond, and upon hearing of this offer he had thrown my way as a belated birthday gift, we knew we had scored a steak jackpot (pseudo-pun not intended).

The restaurant is situated inside Grosvenor House, Park Lane, and upon entering it’s quite obvious that a place like this caters mostly to those of class…

*engages ones public school table manners*

 As I was running late (Ed: lol), I didn’t waste time admiring the scenery (this is Mayfair afterall) and ducked my head straight towards the menu, presented on an iPad of all things…

The Drinks

The Federalist, Zinfandel (2010)

Admittedly I’m not too fussy when it comes to booze – due to a genetic disadvantage with alcohol tolerance (I am half Chinese). Nevertheless good wine is still good wine. A nice mid-range but pleasant tasting red wine to start with. Can’t go wrong…

Ed: This was actually one of the best wines I’ve ever had. Hat tip to the sommelier. Where do I get some for myself? Can I buy it by the case? Can I buy 20 cases? Can I even afford 20 cases? Can I get a loan?

The Starters

JW Maryland Style Lump Crab Cake 

Everything I’d expect from a quality fish cake, not too overdone on the outside, tender flesh on the inside, crab makes an excellent fish cake indeed, accompanied with an ample portion of salads on the side. A wonderful starter that leaves you wanting more.

Parker House Rolls

Yes, even the bread gets it’s own mention. I’ve eaten a lot of bread in my time and this is the tastiest I’ve ever had. Jack doesn’t eat bread, and even he was amazed by how good it was  – later on the waitress replaced our currently unfinished bun with a fresh one, and gave us both a whole bun each to take home! (Ed: I later served it at a house party and everybody thought I’d become some sort of Michelin Starred baker)

The Mains 

JW ‘’Tomahawk’’ Rib Eye & Sweet Potato Fries

We’re in a steakhouse, one of the finest in the area, we didn’t come all this way for a damn salad, bring us your finest signature cow cutting!

Our waitress was assisted in bringing our steaks over to us – given the quality of steak we were about to receive 1. May the Lord make us truly thankful and 2. Steaks like these require the extra security ;). She asked us to cut through it to check the cooking was to rare/blue satisfaction. Upon the first bite, Jack and I looked at each other like we had just found God.

For the record, this is the tastiest thing I have ever eaten, or at least amongst my top 5 meals of all time. 10/10 for quality and quantity, grass fed, chewy, juicy, perfectly marbled all throughout, rich in flavour and accompanied with béarnaise sauce, and a whole garlic clove that when pasted onto the steak surface it literally melted into, and tasted unreal. We could not have asked for a more perfect steak 

Again, my mouth is watering recalling it.

I personally prefer my sweet potato chips a touch crispier on the outside, but still, you can’t really go wrong with them. I had a sample of Jack’s Bourbon sweet potato mash which was also good, I just personally prefer my food alcohol free.

This whole course took the best part of an hour to finish, half due to it’s sheer mass, half to make the experience last. Let’s face it, this is not eating-challenge style dining, and meals as good as this aren’t easy to come by for working class folk such as myself! 

The Desserts 

JW Signature Cheesecake for 2, and warm brownie pudding

The cheesecake option noted ‘you may not want to share, but you should’. It’s a signature dish though, it just had to be tried. It is literally a whole cake, delicious and creamy, fortified in an extra thick buttery-biscuit base shell and topped with 3 raspberries – incredible.

Now I have to admit that my brownie smelt a touch like wet dog (trust me I’ve lived with dogs my whole life), BUT the taste was nothing alike. Once you broke the outer layer of baked chocolate you reached the moist, gooey and almost mousse-like goodness on the inside. It was absolutely amazing, and this time portioned for one (sadly).

Both dishes went perfectly with a modest scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Utterly defeated, we finished this glorious night of fine dining, surrounded by people who looked a little confused by…

1. Our hairstyles and general lack of refinement.

2. The amount of food we managed to put away.

The Verdict 

We have already decided to go back at some point (Ed: I’ve actually gone back already!), so that gives you an idea of how much we liked it there. Aside from the food itself, the service was fantastic. We looked over and noticed that our waitress had ticked off the last 2 of 3 boxes for tomahawk steak options going, which just goes to show how elite these things were.

The head chef, Julian (his initials also being JW) came over to say hi, which was a bit like meeting the supreme being of steak cooking (Ed: Legit). Inside this guy’s head are the secrets of superior cow-cooking, and I want them.

Ed: We’ll be getting a guest post from him soon enough, too…

We’ll be back.

The Details

A: 86 Park Ln, London W1K 7TN

W: http://www.jwsteakhouse.co.uk/

P: 020 7399 8460

E: info@jwsteakhouse.co.uk

T: @JW_Steakhouse

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