London Food: Flat Iron

I heard about Flat Iron from the lovely Saffron and Adrian of We Love Food and it was 2nd on my steak hit list after their also recommended STK (review here). I had no idea just how popular Flat Iron was until I got there at 7pm and realised you can't make a booking and the wait was two hours! It was all well worth it, though, as this place serves one of the most delicious dinners I've ever had.

AMBIANCE **

Like I said before, the wait was really long as you can't book, so I would recommend getting there as early as you can and putting your names down. They will give you a buzzer and you can go out for a drink nearby or spend the time in their cute little cellar bar where they serve great cocktails. The girls at the door were quite stressed out but efficient, and despite having to wait for two hours they sorted us out with a good table. The place is really small, so small in fact that the chairs are vintage style so you can't squeeze people in, you just have to sit in groups of up to six or less. It's a little dark, but it all adds to the decor and style of the place!

SERVICE *****

Even though the girls at the door were a little stressed (understandably I suppose), the service was superb. They were very polite and tried their hardest to get us a table as quickly as they could. The restaurant staff were relaxed, friendly and knew their stuff. The food was quick and our drinks, too.

DRINKS *****

The cocktail bar downstairs serves great drinks and foreign beers, and the restaurant itself has a selection of alcoholic drinks, juices and Dandelion & Burdock which is what I opted for.

FOOD *****

Flat Iron is quite a simple place, no messing about. If you're indecisive like me when it comes to menus, this is like heaven because the menu only consists of one type of steak, five sides and four sauces to choose from. The easiest thing to do was to of course order it all! We tried everything - the sides are big enough for one person but if you're in a group you can easily share it all. The chips were nice and thin, all the sides were delicious but the best choice was the creamed spinach so we ordered one more!

The steak doesn't really need any sauce, but the bernaise complimented it really well in my opinion. The little chopped bits of meat arrived on a hot iron and wood display and was beautifully presented. For £10, this was one succulent and magnificent piece of steak! I have no idea why it's so cheap to eat here but it obviously works because there are always queues outside their door.

My favourite part was the cutlery...how cool is that knife?! You also get to nibble on salty popcorn displayed in a vintage metal cup before you order which I found really cute.

For dessert it was again very simple with just one option - salted caramel mousse. This. was. incredible. I don't even like caramel and I loved this. It's so smooth and light that you don't even feel like you've had dessert...and the added salt enhances the flavours.

I'll be going back to Flat Iron and telling all my friends about it...but will also make sure I arrive at 6pm next time!