The dining room of swish New Town hotel Nira Caledonia, Blackwood's opened in 2013 with a very clubbish, gentlemanly look and a commitment to its grill menu – although you don't have to eat steak when you come here. If you do, expect meat that has been dry-aged for at least 21 days from grass-fed cattle, a Josper chargrill oven – the must-have kitchen hardware de nos jours – and a choice of fillet, rib-eye or sirloin. Temptations other than steak include water buffalo, rare breed lamb, venison, free range chicken and pheasant.
Three or four decades ago, a man would stride into a steakhouse, order a well done sirloin and chips, wolf it down with relish then spark up a cigarette and consider a meal well had.
These days, steakhouses have couples talking about kitchen equipment – 'They've got a Josper' – provenance, sauces, whether the chips are hand cut or not, other side dishes, cooking style and the surrounding décor. The restaurant itself will be eager to tell you which butcher supplied the meat, the cattle breed, the region it came from and the type of farm. It makes you wonder if anyone has actually namechecked an individual animal yet. ('This used to be Hector.') Sauces have gone all prestigious too – green peppercorn might be poshed up with some single malt whisky for example – while a side dish could involve spinach with a hint of nutmeg luxuriating in cream rather than a couple of token fried mushrooms.
In the relatively short period of a few decades, steak has gone from being unattainable to a footballer's favourite meal, then to nouveau naff and finally swung back to claim its own elevated terroir – hurrah for food fashions. And it's not just about steak restaurants either - from French restaurants to Spanish and Italian, clever sourcing means steak reigns supreme on many a menu. Now, go eat the meat.
