Hawksmoor (Air Street)

You cannot beat a good roast dinner, and in my opinion a Hawksmoor roast is the best roast dinner I have had. The meat at Hawksmoor is delicious, and so are the accompaniments.

Main:

Traditionally, large joints of meat were roasted on a spit over an open fire.  To achieve a similar flavour Hawksmoor starts their meat on real charcoal and finishes them in the oven. Served with duck fat roast potatoes, Yorkshire puddings, carrots, greens and lashings of bone marrow & onion gravy.

The beef was cooked well- you can either have it pink or well-done. I have had it both ways and I think I prefer it pink rather than well-done, as the meat was a little dry. The meat(below)  was succulent, and potatoes are crispy on the outside and beautifully soft in the middle. The Yorkshire pudding is huge! All the vegetables were delicious, and I liked the roasted garlic and onion, which brought great flavours to the roast. We ordered a side-order of creamed spinach, which was really yummy.

Dessert:

(Sticky Toffee Sundae and we also ordered some salted caramel rolos)


After the lengthy description of the main, you may think how could we have room for dessert...well there is always room for dessert!

This is the best dessert I have had for quite some time. I would put it on a par with the infamous Theo Randall chocolate cake. It was made up of pieces of sticky toffee pudding, toffee sauce, clotted cream, vanilla ice-cream, caramelised nuts and dates. Absolutely delicious! The toffee sauce, and sticky toffee pudding was very rich but the ice-cream cut through it well- the proportions were perfect too. The nuts added a good texture.

The salted caramel rolos are out of this world- AMAZING!!! I wish you could pop in and a buy some to take home. They are dark chocolate, filled with a soft caramel filling, not runny or chewy like a normal rolo. You have to order these no matter how full you are- you certainly won't be sharing your last rolo once you have tried these!

Quality & Presentation of  the Food

The quality of the food is excellent. A succulent joint of beef with wonderful accompaniments. Usually the meat is the highlight in a roast, but with this roast it is hard to say as everything is cooked to perfection. The portion sizes are very generous; you will certainly not leave hungry.

The presentation is good for a roast. You do not want a roast to be presented in a fussy manner- the taste of the food is all that counts.

Service & Ambience

The service was brilliant. Our waiter was really attentive, we certainly felt well-looked after. We asked lots of questions and he was happy to help. We ordered lots of courses and different drinks, and they were all right and given to the right person- this is what you expect from waiting staff, but it's rare that you receive it.

I prefer the ambience of the Air Street restaurant to the one in Covent Garden. There is more space, and of course it is brighter as it is not under ground. We had a really nice booth, tucked away at the back of the restaurant, which we really liked.

Value for Money

For 2 courses and a glass of prosecco the bill came to £45.  I felt that the meal was worth every penny and I will definitely be back there for another Sunday roast. I cannot recommend this restaurant more. I would like to go and try a brunch there too...