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Please note, Little Smoke has closed. Time Out Food editors, September 2018.
The most important thing that anyone will tell you about this temple to flesh in the City, is to go early. Little Smoke specialises in buying entire animals, hacking them into chunks big enough for one-to-four people to share, listing the cuts on a chalkboard and crossing them off as they’re eaten (although there is also a menu featuring perennial dishes). Thus, if your booking is towards the end of the evening, you run the risk of ending up in a situation that would thoroughly upset most professional rappers: no beef.
And this really would be a shame. Because on my visit, a porterhouse steak came cooked to perfection: strawberry pink in the middle, oozing a slick of dark meat juice, the crust on the outside a thing of utter beauty. Sides and starters were also phenomenal, burnt greens pungent with sesame seeds and crispy garlic. A ‘beef roll’ turned out to essentially be a chilli con carne croquette – denser than Joey Essex and meatier than one of Hulk Hogan’s biceps.
There is a downside, though: the service. We ordered a cut of meat to be told ten minutes later that it had already been eaten. So we ordered another. The same thing happened. We were served our mains while we were eating our starters, and when we asked for English mustard we were given burger mustard. It was as if I’d somehow offended our waiter. But then, we visited in the days leading up to Christmas, which could explain the skittish approach. In any case, the flamboyantly cooked, lovingly sourced meat really is top-notch – so I for one am prepared to give Little Smoke the benefit of the doubt.
Oh, and it's worth noting that on weekends, Little Smoke becomes the super all-day brunch spot Bad Egg. Confusing? A tad. Delicious? Oh yes. It's a full package.