Parmandur
Book-Friend, he/him
My mom has a philosophy of "seasoning at the table"...FOUND THE MOORLOCK!
That’s unusual, to say the least. I like a blue steak on occasion, but I can’t say I’ve ever had unseasoned beef.
How do you like your steak?
- Thread starter Morrus
- Start date
Ah! So it was still seasoned, just not during the cooking process. I can see that.
Ruin Explorer
Legend
I voted medium-rare but honestly if I trust the place and the steak quality, rare is what I increasingly prefer. But either of those elements is questionable medium-rare. I've had blue steak and have had mixed experiences with it honestly, so I'm not super-keen on that.
By the time you've got to medium though, let alone beyond that, I feel like it's like, why did you even order a steak at all? Honestly if you want well-cooked meat a big hunk of beef is not the way to go.
1) How traditionally British is the restaurant is.
2) How old is the restaurant.
3) Did they even ask how you wanted it done?
The more "traditionally British" a restaurant is (i.e. not hipster, not French, not modern, etc.), and the older it is, the more likely it is you're going to get well-done regardless of what you ask for. And if a restaurant doesn't ask, you will 100% get well-done, even if you ask for something specific. If you beg for rare you might get medium-well.
But I would say this situation is improving, as compared to say, 15-20 years ago, where it was quite prevalent. Like, I went to Flat Iron, the one in Waterloo, with friends a few weeks ago (because the restaurant we intended to go to had insanely stopped taking orders at like 7.30pm, like what the hell), and I ordered a rare steak and I got a very genuinely rare steak, and it was good frankly. Everyone else's was too. And Flat Iron is a chain restaurant so that was particularly surprising. Vivat Bacchus has also been trustworthy in providing actually-rare steaks, I dunno if that's also a chain but there are at least two of them. In general I feel like it's a lot easier to get hold of a non-well-done steak in London than it used to be. I thank the hipsters for this, honestly, seems like food quality improved generally as more and more restaurants got run by Millennials (contrary to idiot oldhead columnists who tried to blame them for everything and now try to blame Gen Z).
By the time you've got to medium though, let alone beyond that, I feel like it's like, why did you even order a steak at all? Honestly if you want well-cooked meat a big hunk of beef is not the way to go.
In the UK you can basically tell how likely it is they're going to overcook your steak, by three factors:
1) How traditionally British is the restaurant is.
2) How old is the restaurant.
3) Did they even ask how you wanted it done?
The more "traditionally British" a restaurant is (i.e. not hipster, not French, not modern, etc.), and the older it is, the more likely it is you're going to get well-done regardless of what you ask for. And if a restaurant doesn't ask, you will 100% get well-done, even if you ask for something specific. If you beg for rare you might get medium-well.
But I would say this situation is improving, as compared to say, 15-20 years ago, where it was quite prevalent. Like, I went to Flat Iron, the one in Waterloo, with friends a few weeks ago (because the restaurant we intended to go to had insanely stopped taking orders at like 7.30pm, like what the hell), and I ordered a rare steak and I got a very genuinely rare steak, and it was good frankly. Everyone else's was too. And Flat Iron is a chain restaurant so that was particularly surprising. Vivat Bacchus has also been trustworthy in providing actually-rare steaks, I dunno if that's also a chain but there are at least two of them. In general I feel like it's a lot easier to get hold of a non-well-done steak in London than it used to be. I thank the hipsters for this, honestly, seems like food quality improved generally as more and more restaurants got run by Millennials (contrary to idiot oldhead columnists who tried to blame them for everything and now try to blame Gen Z).
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