81 St John’s Road, Battersea, SW11 1QY, www.roxiesteak.co.uk
I’m no expert on steak, but ‘I likes wot I likes’ and have experienced frequent disappointment in London, and further afield, chewing down on scandalously priced hunks of cold, poorly cooked, poorly sourced meat, all the while thinking of steaks, purchased for a fifth of the price, that I’ve cooked better myself.
t was with trepidation, then, that I approached Roxie Steak. It’s a restaurant I’d heard nothing about and when it comes to steak, one of the most trumpeted foods by my foodie and non-foodie friends alike, it’s a worry not to have any expectations based on prior recommendations.
Passion for steak is something that Roxie Steak have. Not in the fist-thumping, arm-waving, stuff-it-down-your-throat, man-on-the-soap-box style of passion, but a mellow, understated passion that’s clear from their food.
The branch of Roxie in Clapham (they have others in Earlsfield, Putney, and Fulham – colours firmly nailed to the mast of South West London) is a small blink and you’ll miss it sort of a place, with a clean, red-boothed interior and a friendly attentive staff. The menu is small too, the focus clear – meat, and plenty of it.
That’s right. A steak, of the fillet variety, for under £15. Throw in some fries and a drink, and you have steak and chips for less than £20. Can you do better in London? I doubt it.
Of course, price only becomes value with substance – and Roxie’s fillet has substance by the bucketload. A thick, healthy fillet, charred on the outside, cooked pink on the inside. The serrated knife bites through the first layer, leaving a jagged, torn skin, and sinks quickly through the velvet smooth inner. Chew and melt, chew and melt, chew and melt and the steak is gone. Simple. Delicious. Steaktastic.
It’s hair splitting, perhaps. Roxie’s is sign-posted as a destination for steak, not chips, and it’s a sign-post that burns brightly for a good reason. A higher quality, higher value steak, you are unlikely to find in the capital.