English Restaurants in Warsaw
London Steak House
Address: Aleje Jerozolimskie 42
Tel: +48 (22) 8270020
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Review by Christian Swindells from Eat Drink Warsaw.
As the contribution made by England to the world of gastronomy is limited at best, the wisdom of opening a restaurant themed round little England is questionable at best. Given that England is not known for good steak, opening an ‘English’ restaurant which specialises in steak is getting on for foolhardy.
The best English food is the Great British breakfast: unfortunately the fried breakfast I had at the London Steak House was indescribably appalling. You might well get a better meal by rooting round the rubbish bins outside Macdonalds. But some of the concierges at the better hotels (i.e. people whose job it is to know where in town does good food) have been heard to say that this place serves some of the finest steaks in town.
As soon as we arrived it was apparent that nothing had changed since our first visit back in the late 1990s. Still the same tired looking décor (to use the word in its loosest possible sense). Still the same London taxi gently rusting outside. Still the same shop window dummy dressed as a British policeman. Still the same airhead staff who make the dummy copper look like a member of MENSA.
As a starter Partner chose a dish which sums up most of what is wrong with English cuisine: fried camembert with cranberry sauce. Who exactly had the idea of deep frying cheese in the first place and what was going through their head at the time? Anyway, this was one of the less impressive versions you’ll find in Warsaw. Half of the point of fried camembert is getting the thing hot enough to go runny; apparently the chef here was trying to reduce energy consumption because this stuff was barely warm. Pity, because it was quite a nice bit of cheese, properly cooked it would have been worth eating.
I went for the onion soup. How such a quintessentially French dish is in any way connected to England was a bit of a mystery but fortunately the chef had made this version English style; in other words it was thin, watery, lacking in flavour and a complete disappointment. Not recommended.
By now expectations had fallen to such an extent that we were seriously considering doing a runner before the mains arrived. Lucky for me that we didn’t: the London fillet steak (unsurprisingly the specialty of the house) was amazing. An excellent cut of meat which had been cooked exactly the way I ordered it, stuffed with tasty cheese and then shoved in the oven until it reached the perfect temperature and the cheese had melted.
This was certain not the best steak I have ever had but it certainly was the most surprising. In fact, that such an ugly venue which serves food as bad as our starters can cook such a good steak goes way past ‘surprise’ and very much into the realm of ‘shock’. Unfortunately Partner’s main was almost as bad as mine was good. After a protracted whine about the lack of piscetarian choices (who would have thought that a steakhouse doesn’t cater well to people that don’t eat meat!), a portion of fish and chips had been ordered and the vast majority of it went back to the kitchen untouched. This fish was dry and almost entirely without flavour, instead emitting mainly an unpleasant aroma. The fries it came with were scarcely better and certain wouldn’t have passed muster at any English fish and chip shop, no matter how down-market it was.
My grandfather used to say that when the name of a restaurant features the name of a particular food, one should order only that food. If you follow his advice at the London Steak House, you’ll have a good meal. If you don’t, you’ll waste your money.
Daily 11.00 – midnight
Cuisine: steak
Food: 6.5/10
Service: 5/10
Atmosphere: 4/10
Value: 5/10
Overall: 5.5/10