Smith & Wollensky

Superb service at this rather stylish steak restaurant near the Savoy hotel. The barman mixes an excellent Bloody Mary cocktail, staff are knowledgeable and helpful and will help you navigate through the extensive menu. Yes it’s expensive but worth the experience.

After spotting this restaurant on Unilocal we decided to head over to S&W tempted by steak and cocktails… And we certainly weren’t disappointed!
Our starter, the squid was served quickly & presented delightfully.
The steak was huge & perfectly cooked.
I settled on the Tuna steak which was delicious, perfectly seared.
My Boyfriend (American) had eaten in an S&W back home & highly recommended the Iceberg Wedge… Yummy! We had the blue cheese dressing and honestly it was one of the best I’ve tasted.
Cocktails were good, extensive drinks menu.
We didn’t have room for dessert but it all looked very tempting, especially the cheese board!

Each year London is looking more and more like NY. Smollensky’s on the Strand made me think of S&W (only because of the name!) and was pleasantly surprised to see this place on the way back from the gym.
I have to say I was impressed with the décor — it did remind me a bit of S&W but it had a bit of English charm into it as well. Definitely a good place for a business lunch. They had a set lunch menu but opted for the a la carte menu. Interesting how they offer imported USDA beef! Cuts are so big and would only get it if you were planning to share.
I ordered the Wollensky salad with sliced tenderloin. It was so good and really filling without it making you fall asleep after lunch. Perfect with a side of bread to go along with it.
I’d definitely come back for dinner one of these nights — especially since it’s so close to my office!

It’s no surprise to anyone who knows me that I love a good steak — why else would I drag myself out of bed to get to Smithfields and carry home a few kilos of prime rib eye? Luckily, London has been fairly blessed but a number of top notch steakhouses from Hawksmoor to Goodman to MASH. And now NY has come in swinging with one of its established powerhouses: Smith & Wollensky. To be honest, I was a bit hesitant about trying it given the prices are as hefty as the portion size and make a meal at Hawksmoor seem like a reasonable venture. But since work was treat, how could I say no?
As far as food, steak seems like a pretty good option here but before we get to that I have to mention the starters. Without fail, each starter’s presentation is flawless and the flavours are clear and well balanced. My absolute top pick is the crab cake although that simple description doesn’t do it justice. It’s a cake only in the fact that it’s a round shape but by large its composed of perfectly cooked tender jumbo crab meat held together by a light flavourful sauce. I’m not prone to excessive raving (just moderate raving) but this dish was spectacular and if I had to choose between steak and this crab cake, the crab would win every time.
Enough of that though, let’s talk meat. Smith & Wollensky is proud that its meat it the top 2% of Nebraskan beef. What does that mean? Well honestly, not too much to me at first but digging into it I discovered that Nebraskan beef is kind of like the Angus cattle bandied that you see around London. It’s a good quality animal and the top stuff is very good indeed — we’re talking your prime bits that are carefully raised and nutured to get the depth and breadth of flavour that is then concentrated through the aging process.
But you can get that level of meat at any steakhouse of quality so why go to S&W? For me, it’s the Cajun rib eye which is a truly impressive 24oz (around 700g) for an even more eye watering £65. It’s seasoned with a spicy Cajun marinade and best grilled to a juicy medium rare. The heat of the Cajun marinade pairs brilliants with the depth of the beefiness and it’s a steak you can’t stop eating.
As far as sides, the truffle mac’n’cheese is a winner with a enough truffle and cheese for flavour without making you feel a tad queasy. The chips are pretty solid and the roasted veggies are strong supporting acts. The one side that lets you down are the onion rings. There isn’t anything grossly wrong, but they are just bland. The onion flavour is lost in the doughy dry batter and it cries out for some seasoning or sauce.
Drinkswise, I started out with a barrel aged Negroni which delivered on every one of its promises. The barrel aging smoothes out the bitter bite of the Negroni but it remains refreshing and spectacular as a palate cleanser. And for a follow up, the smoky whisky of the Old Fashioned gets your mouth watering for its first bite of meat. Both cocktails were balanced perfectly and very drinkable (which could be a problem albeith not a bad one… hopefully).
During the meal, you have a very extensive wine list with a naturally strong US showing. In fact, it turns out that some of the Californian wines are actually better priced than at the US locations for S&W which I expect is due to the lower level of knowledge and demand on this side of the pond. Still, if you know what you are looking for then you can get quite a good wine for your pound and the Decoy Sonoma red was a very good wine indeed.

This is the first and only Smith & Wollensky in the UK, but after years of dabbling with the idea of a London restaurant have they left it too late though? The likes of Goodman, MASH and Hawksmoor have established themselves as THE premier steak restaurants this side of the pond, so is there need for another high-​end competitor. After tonight, I’d say yes.
Why? Because my steak was superb — and I mean superb. That bone-​in ribeye was cooked to perfection and didn’t need to be returned which has happened on far too many recent occasions at my other favourite steak restaurants.
It was big too. In fact, it was delicious; probably the best steak I’ve had in a couple of years (and I’ve eaten a lot of steak in that time!).
The only disappointment was the sides. The truffled mac & cheese was too greasy while the fries I ordered were on the soggy side.
The phenomenal steak somehow made up for those deficiencies. I would expect better sides next time though.
So, yes, after a degree of skepticism I will be going back. And hopefully another heavyweight to the London steak scene will its competitors to up their game again.