A huge slab of beef... Argentinian Style

When I am out for dinner I always try and steer clear of the steak on the menu- I know how to cook a steak and have a good butcher nearby so find that spending money on steak is always a bit of a waste when there are normally more interesting things on the menu.  In saying that, when I was in Argentina, steaks were the norm and how did I gorge.  I do, therefore, occasionally venture out to an Argentinian steak house in London and, while I normally try to avoid chains, Gaucho has never let me down.

Near to me on Broadway Market, however, is a little independent Argentinian Restaurant called Buen Ayre.  So with a visitor down from Scotland, I decided to take the opportunity to tuck into some Argentinian beef.



Emapanadas de carne.

 The menu is simple, a few nods to Argentinian street food (empanadas etc) act as starters followed by steaks, steaks and more steaks (oh and some sweetbreads).

Empanadas.

We had a couple of empanadas to share to start- light pastry and, unlike so many others, these weren't greasy.  Tender mince, onion and peppers made up the filling- as good as the ones I remember getting in the central market in Salta, high praise indeed given that this is the home of the Argentinian empanada.

Rump Steak.

On to the steaks- I went for the rib eye and my guest went for the rump.  We also got a bowl of chips with parsley and a rocket and garlic salad to share.

Rib-eye steak.

My ribeye was reasonably tender (although not outstandingly so) and was served with a pickled pepper and a few butter beans.  The rump was absolutely huge- it was only meant to be a 10oz but it was at least one and half times that and was also served with the pepper and butter beans.  The beef was again good, but not outstanding. The chimichurri that came along with the beef was second to none- incredible!

Chimichurri

While the steaks were good but not exactly mind-blowing, the chips were absolutely fantastic- light and fluffy on the inside, crispy on the outside- the rocket and garlic salad was a little disappointing- lots of rocket but the garlic seemed to be playing a game of hide and seek.

For the two of us with a decent bottle of Malbec it was 70- pretty reasonable given the size of the steaks even if they could have been a little more tender and tasty.