Steaks and more at Foxlow, Farringdon

Not your usual meatery – Clerkenwell

7/10

Foxlow is the new restaurant from the guys behind Hawksmoor, and although steak is also on the menu here, the emphasis is on less common cuts of meat. A salad bar serving a jewelled array of nut-studded choices suggests that Foxlow is a less visceral alternative to your usual steakhouse. Peppery squid to start is effervescent with chilli and lime, the batter is delicate whilst the squid itself is soft and giving.

Delicacy is surrendered to stature with the next course. A ten hour beef shortrib is one of the biggest cuts of meat I have ever been presented with. This mammoth hunk of slow-smoked meat is served on a bone of pre-historic proportions. The beef is veined with softened fat and falls off the bone in neat layers. The cabbage kimchi it is served with kicks the meat up a notch with a pickled chilli frisson. A sauce would improve the dish, but on a whole it still pleases.

A rib beef fillet is branded with an excellent char where the raw meat has united with hot metal. The insides of this beast have a deliciously contrasting pink flesh. Like at Hawksmoor and Gaucho, the steak is served on its own. A side of roasted vegetables is made up of medieval chocks of purple carrot and skin-on potatoes, and makes for a much better addition than the basic chip.

Desserts are all-American and sharply sugared. A sundae is christened ‘peanut butter and jelly’ and is crunchy with both the nut and butter. The ice cream used is of the cheap, soft-whip variety, and the strawberry sauce has little depth. More involved than this is cherry pie with a difference. Its ‘pie’ crust has little to do with pastry and more with airy meringue. Under this is an abundance of glossy cherries in a slick pool of syrup, whose wicked intent is clearly the downfall of molars.

The almost inevitable visit to the dentist is well worth the trip to Foxlow, with the savoury dishes not far behind. The food isn’t particularly innovative but it does satisfy, and prices are an almost reasonable £40 per head.

Tube: Farringdon