Latest opening: GrassFed
What: A 50-cover steak restaurant located within a railway arch that’s part of Camden’s fairly-recently launched Hawley Wharf development. GrassFed might be billed as a steak-focused venture but it’s not a traditional steakhouse - in fact it doesn’t even sell chips. As the name suggests, the restaurant is focused on high-quality grass-fed beef. Prices are surprisingly accessible, however, with steaks starting at £18 for a 200g Irish beef bavette.
Who: GrassFed is the London debut for Paul Foster, who is best known for his Michelin-starred Salt restaurant in Stratford-upon-Avon. Midlands born-and-bred, Foster cooked at a string of top restaurants including Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons and Restaurant Sat Bains in the UK and The French Laundry in the US before opening Salt in 2017. The chef is well-known in the industry for his no-nonsense, rigorous approach to technique and is in the process of putting his money where his mouth is with a collection of cookbooks. Last year saw the publication of How To Cook Meat Properly which will soon be followed by How To Cook Pasta Properly. Foster told Restaurant that GrassFed came about ‘backwards’ with the restaurant opportunity arriving before the concept. “We’re kind of moving away from that traditional steakhouse format, which I love but there’s enough of those in London. We don’t need to be doing peppercorn sauce and chips but beef fat potatoes and Jersey Royals when in season and different kinds of sauces – there might be a green herb ketchup, bone marrow gravy, or anchovy mayonnaise - things people know and work but are not too mainstream.”
The vibe: Billed as ‘rustic, simple and refined’, GrassFed is split over two floors. The downstairs is home to an open kitchen with a large charcoal-fired grill, a small bar station and mix of regular and counter seating with the upstairs given over entirely to seating. Interiors draw on materials such as wicker, steel and stones, alongside copper tones on the walls. There are also few seats outside for those that want to dine canalside.
The food: With very little storage space and virtually no ‘back-of-house’ save a small wash-up area, the menu is necessarily tight. It kicks off with small plates including charred Tenderstem broccoli with chimichurri and Berkswell; roast bone marrow with panagrattato, watercress and Parmesan; and beef tartare made with aged Irish beef rump, flamed mushrooms, smoked egg yolk and a punchy wholegrain mustard dressing. These are followed by a six-strong ‘cooked over coal’ section (essentially mains) that include a rib of Irish beef for two to share (£70); grass-fed beef rump (£22); dayboat fish (£18); and beef snag (hotdog) with truffle mayonnaise, pickled and crispy shallots (£14). Sides include beef-fat potatoes; green salad; and charred hispi cabbage topped with tofu and smoked almond granola. All sourced from well-known Midlands-based meat supplier Aubrey Allen, the steaks can be ordered topped with ‘accompaniments’ including Cotswold Sobrasada; Texford & Tebbutt Stilton; and beef fat butter. GrassFed doesn’t currently offer desserts, with Foster and team having taken the view that there are already a fair few dessert specialists in the immediate area.
To drink: The drinks list mirrors the tightness of the menu with a handful of classic cocktails on offer - including a Negroni, a Margarita and an Old Fashioned - and a small-yet-carefully-chosen selection of wines. The team are looking to increase the size of the wine list as the restaurant beds in.
And another thing: Though it’s certainly not rammed down diners throats, GrassFed takes sustainability seriously working only with select farms. “Red meat has a bad name at the moment, but I wanted it to be a contrast to the current vegan argument, which is a kind of a craze at the moment that a lot of people are jumping on without actually knowing much about it,” Foster says. “Beef is a hell of a lot healthier and better for the environment than people think if you use the right farm and the right beef. It’s not the cow, it’s the how.”
