DentaltownUK April 2017 - 90

Lifestyle

Restaurant review:

by Guy Laffan

If you live in London then you will know
all about
Hawksmoor. It's name is inspired by Nicholas
Hawksmoor, the architect behind the imposing
Christ Church in Spitalfields. The founders,
Will Beckett and Huw Gott, founded the chain
with their first restaurant in Spitalfields using
a £20,000 loan from their parents. This soon
evolved into four thriving restaurants and seven
years and a financial crisis later, they sold the
four-restaurant chain to the private equity firm
Graphite Capital for a reported £35m. Not bad
for 7 years work, right?
Hawksmoor is somewhat of a household
name if you live anywhere inside the M25.
During my short spell in London, my main vice
was of course, the food, and boy was I glad I
found Hawksmoor. It hits the spot on so many
levels and I'll put my hands up and say, I for
one love it.
They have several locations in London and
have also opened in Manchester - a very
promising sign for me sat here in Cardiff writing
this. The 'chain effect' often finds its way to us
in some way shape or form and I have everything
crossed in anticipation of a Hawksmoor someday.
Sadly, we seem to be getting over-run with Miller
and Carter at the moment, to which I can only
say.... No comment.
My two favourite locations are Air Street and
Seven Dials. Both have extremely imposing
entrances that you're almost fearful to walk
through, but once you're in, it almost feels like
you've stepped into a time machine, and have
been whisked back to a time gone by. Picture
a 1920s art-deco-inspired 'secret club' of some
description. It's almost like stepping into an
exclusive members' only club - something owned
by the likes of Al Capone. It's very, very slick.
The décor is painfully tasteful and equally stylish.
Everything in there compliments everything
else perfectly and you can tell an awful lot of
time, care, effort and unmistakably, money,
went into the planning and interior design of
each of the restaurants. Your eyes are instantly
drawn to the deep brown herring bone flooring,
while your hand glides along the polished brass

90

APRIL 2017 // dentaltownuk.com

banister that are organically styled into the
marble stair cases, which ooze with cosmopolitan
grandeur. Stained glass door panels, green glass
lampshades and dark mahogany green-leathered
booths grab your attention from all angles.
Something can catch your eye wherever you
look... We're talking effortlessly cool.
The Hawksmoor team have obviously sought
out very specific properties for Seven Dials and
Air Street. Both resemble abandoned office or
department stores that have left behind their
exuberant and lavish features, installed when
no expense was spared on interiors and style
was of more value than substance.
I've personally been into Hawksmoor at all
times of day, for both the food, and more
shamelessly, the cocktails. It prides itself on its
steak, and having eaten some pretty darn good
steak in my life, I can confidently say that
Hawksmoor are doing it exceptionally well. It's
always a relief to see restaurants doing justice to
such fantastic produce. The menus themselves
are sensational.
When you read through you can't help but
think rustic, hearty, wholesome and generally
speaking, British. The starters include things
like potted smoked mackerel, shrimps on toast
and Old Spot pork belly ribs. There is also an
exquisite selection of native seafood, served
however which way you want, with a selection
of sides to match. (I can't say I've ever tried the
fish, but once you've tried the steak yourself
you'll understand why.) The steak comes in

every cut and every size you can imagine. You
can literally order however many grams of
whatever cut you want - which genuinely had
me in awe. We've all been there in the past - being
served a golf ball sized fillet and feeling a deep
sense of disappointment. Not at Hawksmoor,
as you are in the driver's seat.
Now let me put this bluntly - the selection
of sides is immense. My favourites being beef
dripping fries, bone marrow, creamed spinach
and lobster mac'n'cheese to name a few, but let
me just make one thing clear - the absolute
crowning glory for me is the bone marrow gravy.
(I mainly say this because I'm Welsh and gravy
after all is one of our main food groups).
My oh my is it good! My wife would have
to hold me back if a pint of the stuff did actually
arrive at our table. It's unctuously rich and leaves
you wanting more. Which leads me onto my
next point - the short rib French dip roll.
This, my friends, is a game changer. It's
mind-blowingly good and as I'm sat here writing
this, I'm desperately depressed there isn't one
sat here with me. The picture alone is making
my mouth water. This roll is as close to savoury
gastronomic perfection as it gets. They generously
anoint a soft sweet finger roll with slow-braised
pulled beef short rib that has obviously been
soaking in bone marrow gravy for hours.
The meat is then laden with cheese, which
slowly melts into all the voids and out the sides,
and is then served up with a pot of that same
liquid-gold bone marrow gravy, for, of course,
http://www.dentaltownuk.com
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of DentaltownUK April 2017
