Restaurants

Steakhouse chic is what this flagship branch of the Gaucho chain is all about – from its well-stocked Cavas wine shop to its pitch-dark cocktail bar and its penchant for cowskin wallpaper and pouffes. The place won the Best Steak Restaurant category in the 2006 Time Out Eating & Drinking Awards, so, as you’d expect, its steaks are always good-to-great; the bife de lomo (fillet) can be outstanding. The menu also stretches to dishes containing Ecuadorian prawns and Peruvian hake, and a sausage platter with Mexican dips. These ‘nationality’ tags are, in truth, absolute pelotas; the ‘Argentine-style’ sausage coming with jalapeños is proof of that. The whole Gaucho brand seems to be drifting between cow theme-park and pan-Latin glam bar. But the food is tasty and well presented, if pricey – £18.50 for a sirloin – and the Argentina-dominated wine list is fantastic. Desserts range from fruit and cheesecakes to Argentinian classics such as dulce de leche pancake and Don Pedro (ice-cream and whisky). Service is a touch too slick, but that’s the nature of smart chains. And Gaucho is expanding, with new branches near Tower Bridge and on the river in Richmond.

Time Out Eating & Drinking Guide 2008