Rating
Cuisine
American(ish)
In A Word
Exciting
Appeals To
People who like dining and/or drinking at huge, atmospherically audacious spaces and places, styled by Hollywood set designers. With a roaring 20s theme and huge, corinthian columns. Also people who like the insides of trains and banks. History buffs and architecture fans?
Appreciators of ‘Americana’ in both cultural and culinary forms. And people who really liked The Great Gastby. And people who like Tiki head cocktails. And ribs. Also audiophiles and dancers – there’s a big wide space to dance in and a big soundsystem to help you do it…
Steam, Rye And Other Stuff
If you didn’t know where it was, you might miss Steam And Rye – the entrance is…prestigious looking, but also unassuming (this is a rare but not unheard of combination). There is a sign, but it’s small, and it’s side on (so you don’t see it from the other side of the street). There’s another sign, it’s polished brass and thus better at reflecting than conveying what it represents. We get there in the end and are greeted by a woman who I assume is the duty manager (I like to assume) and dressed in what looks like a historic cocktail dress with a cool hat.
Drawing upon my substandard historical/literary knowledge, I then go on to assume that this place’s name is derived from a combination of The Catcher In The Rye and the fact that the era it harks back to was dependent on steam (think old steam engine locomotives). I could be/usually am completely wrong and so you can choose to believe me at your peril.
Stepping in, it’s medium full – with hip, young professional types drinking and canoodling, and causing a break in the historical theme/narrative. The place is full of old style leather seats and wait staff dressed in what looks like 20/30s style clothing. The walls are adorned with flags and the building itself is historic. All marble, stone, pillars and high, high ceilings. I believe it was once a bank or something that required Corinthian fluted columns and lots of shit made out of marble to remind you how important it is…
Get all the customers to dress up in period dress as well and you could have yourself a bloody brilliant roaring 20s style flapper party or something.
The musical selection doesn’t suit the decor, but this works for me (because I like the music). 80s rock tunes, guitar solos intact and Michael Jackson songs. Later Men At Work’s Land Down Under, The Ghostbusters Theme and big, reverby snare drums everywhere. All belted out on a well calibrated soundsystem – which gives your ears more to work with than just the continual, metronomic thumping of the kickdrum.
And at no point do they play any generic dance or house music. I like this.
That said when you go to the gents it’s playing trad jazz and showtunes, which is perhaps more what you’d expect from a venue styled on this era?
What’s This About Cocktails?
We’ve been sent down to review the venue’s new ‘Summer Sippings’ cocktails – which are served with ‘Retro Ice Creams’ and are on the main part, more sweet than they are alcoholic.
When it comes to pile-driving cocktails, my tastes tend more towards the harder stuff with no added sugar – but like adventurous food hoovers we give it all a shot anyway and after trying the lot, are actually not that inebriated. We are very full however, as the cocktails are full of fruitjuice, cream, mystery meat (OK, kidding) and calories (probably).
All that’s OK though, since tomorrow is leg day.
These are cooling, summery cocktails on ice – but they don’t really fit with the Art Deco styled interior of Steam & Rye, which is air conditioned and shaded enough as it is, thankyou very much for asking.
One side of the venue looks like the inside of a train carriage, with screens where the windows would be, playing CGI footage of an imaginary rail journey. The other side looks a bit like Grand Central Terminal in New York.
We don’t order all that much food as the cocktails turn out to be pretty filling, but two sets of different people adjacent to us both order S&R’s BBQ rib platter – which spells like someone spliced BBQ sauce and angel tears and damn I want to come back and eat the hell outta that shit.
Another cool thing – the amazingly designed menu (seriously, it reminds me of the popup books of my youth and has litte illustrations and everything) – offers dishes and cocktails with names like ‘Maize Balls’ . lol
There is also what looks like a special upstairs area, which overlooks the ‘main’ part of Steam & Rye. You can see people sitting in it and I wonder if it’s like the expensive seating in a theatre or some private dining area or lounge. I forget to ask.
Anyway I will shut up now and talk about food and drink, like I am supposed to…
The Drinks
So yes, we tried a bunch of things from said ‘Summer Sippings‘ Menu. This is what they look like…
The Food
In an attempt to counterbalance the mass of sugar and alcohol efficiently being deposited in our livers by the cocktail selection, we both order a little food. It is on the main part, American inspired, with a bit of a twist (a description you could use for I dunno…Puerto Rico?)
Here’s what we get:
Grilled Beef Burger (added cheese)
Josper Grilled Loch Duart Salmon
The salmon is delicious but I’d rather it were heavier on the salmon, and lighter on the (heavy) creamy sauce. It reminds me of a slightly softer version of polenta. The salmon is cooked crispy on the outside. Good.
Butternut Squash Salad
The sauce tastes like homous. I like this but you get a bit fatigued by the fact that it’s essentially just a lot of squash and sauce. Maybe a little less squash and a few more veggies? You could make it into some kind of squash homous salad, and it would probably be delicious…
The Verdict
The historical, 20/30s/sometimes prohibition themed era experience seems to be particularly popular right now. Props to Steam & Rye for really putting the effort onto a new spin on it, and for actually making a cocktail called the ‘Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster’. And for their overall attention to detail in the design of the venue – which is really quite something.
I’d recommend this one to all of you guys who like going to bars and drinking stuff (not necessarily tiki heads full of cream, lollipops and alcohol).
Steam and Rye have taken ‘atmosphere’ to entirely new heights.
The Details
A 147 Leadenhall St, London EC3V 4QT
P 020 7444 9960
W http://www.steamandrye.com/
