last tuesday, twitter was abuzz with word that flat iron on beak street would be offering their customers free steak from 5:30 that night. i can literally see flat iron from my window at work, and thankfully, last week was my 9-5 shift. i did some quick recon to make sure it wasn't all some ellaborate joke, then - once satisfied this was in fact going to happen, i rounded the troops.
at five on the dot we surged out the door and headed the mere 100m to the restaurant. there, we were faced with the inevitable line of punters, all with the same idea as us. with the old 'save us a spot' routine completely out of the question, we waited, patiently, for our turn to come...
*apologies for terrible picture quality - the lighting was very moody!*
just after 5:30 when the doors opened, a soft cheer rang out from those who had been lined up the longest, the rest of us unclear about how many people would be let in at a time... turned out, not a lot. of the fifty or so in front of us, about 20 at a time were shuffled in. about 10 minutes later, some lovely staffers started delivering some refreshing peach bellinis to us in the line, wetting the appetite for what else was to come!the closer we got, the hungier i became. the smell was making me delerious. at the door, we got chatting to the owner, charlie - a young guy, very modest but proud of his restaurant. i think carmen has found the man she's going to marry, which is nice. hopefully, it's a self-catering wedding. i think the shameless flirting worked, because within minutes, we were in! we were sent downstairs to the bar briefly, but before we had time to order, we were back in the dining room.
the staff! were! so! lovely! after a brief explanation of the two cuts of (free!) steak on offer, we settled in for what we expected to be a long wait. but, it wasn't! because of the flat iron rules, the steaks are all cooked medium-rare, meaning that we had our meals within minutes! carmen and i shared the chuck centre (a mammoth cuttin board full of delicious, marbled, tender and juicy meat), while the others each had their own chuck eye to themselves. i tend to think we were better off with our cut, but i'm biased!
the 'free steak rules' meant we'd pay for any sides, sauces and drinks (and service charge!) ourselves, which was totally acceptable considering my glass of wine came out in a half-caraf and the chips were double-dripping fried. oh, and then there was salted caramel and chocolate mousse for desert. so, i paid the tidy sum of £13 (including service charge! not usually happy to pay but very happy to pay here!) for two peach bellinis, delicious steak, crunchy fries, half a bottle of wine, a pot of peppercorn sauce and the most mouth droolingly nommy cup of whippy salty caramel mousse from a whipped cream gun (cue the two girls, one cup jokes!).
the best bit, the steak is usually only a tenner. easily the cheapest and tastiest steak in all of soho. take note, london steakhouses!
we win! have you been? you should go!
