Vistors to London! When was the last time you went to an Aberdeen Steak House? Londoners! Why aren't you supporting your local Angus Steak House?
There's probably a reason. They're old-fashioned, touristy and therefore invisible. But you don't knwo what you're missing.
A few years ago I was working around the corner from one on the Strand. Of course we mocked it endlessly but we'd never, ever been there. So one day we decided we would.
Visually it was of course as you'd imagine: plush red velveteen booths, a separate bar area, all dark black wood and subtle lighting - and completely empty. But what a menu! It was so thiuck I'd thought we'd been given War & Peace with a slightly greasy cover.
However, if all you're after is a good steak and chips, peas, grilled tomatoes, crispy onion rings and whatever else goes with it then you've come to the right place.
I have to say, it's magnificent.
We went a few years ago to one in Shaftsbury Avenue before we went on a work trip to the theatre. It was such an out-of-towners thing to do, all we needed was to pay a visit to Gamages and watch the changing of the guard and it would have been like a day out in 1971. If only.
Anyway, it didn't disappoint. The menu's still as extensive. I'm sure I heard the chain was getting a modern makeover, but I think this would be a terrible mistake. Like Pizza Express you know what you're going to get and you know it's going to be okay. Why meddle? It's not a patch on those American ones like Ruth's Chris Steak House (whatever that actually means), but would you want it to be?
There's a huge nostalgia element to it. When I was younger we only ate out as a family about once a year, and that was at the Berni Inn. We weren't in with the in crowd; we were in with the Berni Inn crowd. It's not like today where families are out all the time. Sometimes there was the British Home Stores cafeteria if we were shopping in Southampton on a Saturday, and once we even had a Chinese takeaway. But the yearly trip to the Schooner Inn or the steak house was the thing. Criss-crossed griddle patterns and a ring of pineapple - you can't beat it.
But thesedays, hold the pineapple. Pineapple with meat is one the most gruesome combinations since Jordan and Alex Reid.
Anyway, who's hungry?
