Prime

About four days into the new year, we knew that we wouldn't do Veganuary very well. We booked dinner for J's birthday at Prime in Chandler's cross. Prime as well known in the area for being Hertfordshire's answer to Hawksmoor: priding itself on excellent steak with simple sides, mostly British fare and cosy puddings.

Firstly the venue - it's a really sleek restaurant, from the minute you park up, to sitting down, there is attention to detail in the decor and furnishings. We've missed eating out during these strange times and it's nice to go back to a restaurant who take pride in their appearance and make it feel like a real treat (if a bit closely seated). Worth noting here that there are also Prime's in St. Albans and Beaconsfield.

I thought the menu offered something for everyone. There was really good choice of starters, from the more gastropub type calamari (which J went for) to the more steak-house esque dishes like "New York Iceberg Wedge". There was a great range of steaks listed, and what I really liked about it was the fact that it described each of the cuts and whether they were flavoursome or tender and how they should be cooked. This way, even the novice could make an informed decision. i once went to Gaucho's when it first opened in London (many maaaaaany years ago) and i remember the waiter there talking me though each of the steaks on the menu with gusto. At the end of his encyclopaedic rant on beef cuts, he said " and if you don't eat meat, don't worry, we have lamb." Well, at prime, they really do have something for the non-meat eaters too; there are fish dishes and a good selection of vegetarian or vegan options. Alongside the meat, there was a great selection of sauces and toppings to go with them. I was especially excited about the oven roasted bone marrow; I thought that sounded really exciting- sadly though, this was not available on the night we were there. Sad face.

For starters, J had the calamari and I had a Caesar salad -which is actually one of the sides. I have no idea how it would have been a side though. It was absolutely massive; drenched in a very rich anchovy dressing which had quite a tart lemon hit so it was definitely a homemade dressing, and confettied in finely grated parmesan dusting. Josh had the calamari which had a punch of good flavour. It was supposed to be salt and pepper but was predominantly pepper with a little bit of chilli powder, which made it fairly spicy but it was fresh and it was light and the squid itself was fresh, which was great and made for quite a tender mouthful. We always say if you want to know if a place takes their food seriously, see how they do their squid, as a lot of places cheat with frozen and re-heated food. Thankfully no such issues here.

For the mains, both J and I chose a ribeye. Although I chose ribeye on the bone and J choose off the bone. I ordered mine rare, basically wafted oven the roaring flame. J chose medium rare. Both steaks arrived and they had little cocktail sticks in them with a note of how they have been cooked, which I thought was a really nice touch and kind of showed that the chefs were determined to cook it perfectly. What was very evident was that both stakes had been rested beautifully after cooking. The reason that you can tell this is that there was minimal blood and juices running onto the plate because all of those juices had retained themselves within the meat itself. It meant that every mouthful we had was brimming with flavour. It was succulent juicy and the the fat and the meat were just melting in the mouth.

The sauces were also excellent. The peppercorn was heady, deep, rich and punchy; so much so that I was scooping it out with chips. And the Bearnaise sauce that I had was also brilliant. The tarragon was fresh, it was slightly acidic and tangy from the lemon juice and balanced perfectly; creamy, light and fresh.

We shared some side dishes as well. Prime offers three types of fries either kind of shoestring, thin french fry types, oven-cooked triple cooked chips which are more the chunky kind, and sweet potato fries. We went for the skinny fries which were wonderful. Slightly cold if anything, but still very delicious and helped to mop up the sauces very well. I ordered the wilted greens with garlic to offset the heavy steak and the chips, (and the onion rings that craftily made themselves appear on our table as if by magic! No idea how they got ordered...... no siree)

After all of this, we didn't really have space for pudding. However, it was J's birthday so the waitress kindly brought over two scoops of ice cream with a candle and Happy Birthday written on the plate in caramel sauce. The ice cream was a scoop of strawberry and a scoop of chocolate ice cream and both of them tasted fantastic. Really punchy flavours using fresh ingredients. The chocolate was very decadent very rich and pure chocolate rather than a cocoa or chocolate flavouring and the strawberry had beautiful chunks of strawberries in, and was not too sweet. Very very fresh. Overall a thoroughly enjoyable meal and a very happy birthday boy!

SERVICE:

Attentive without bearing overbearing, helpful and delivered a nice surprise for J's birthday.

PRICE & VALUE:

It's not cheap, but you can see where the money goes. It's definitely a place you go as a treat, rather than your week to week fare, but it never felt overpriced for what was being offered. You'll be looking at about £50-70 a head with drinks for a very generous three-course meal.

QUALITY:

Really great beef, lovingly cooked and well rested. It also had great sides - the mark of a steakhouse which is taking things seriously. The meat is ethically sourced from the highlands of Scotland and it's handled very well.

OVERALL:

EXCELLENT- Prime wouldn't look out of place in central London - their offering is vast, portions are generous and everything is high quality. Take someone special there (yourself counts!) when you can.