I've recently moved into a flat just around the corner from Broadway Market, which happens to not only be my favourite weekend market in London, but also host to a collection of great bars and restaurants.
This one is particularly special though; by day it is a gorgeous old-fashioned Master Butcher, and by night it is a restaurant, or 'cookshop'.
The cookshop is an idea derived from the 15th Century, where shops that sold food would also cook it for their customers to try, serving it up a communal table with wine to match. Essentially the origin of today's restaurants.
I'd never heard of a cookshop before, but I am now a HUGE fan of this one. The menu changes daily (often posted on their Instagram or Twitter), and is simple, quality meat at its best.
We started with chipolatas and a carafe of wine - the entrée of champions!
To follow we ordered an enormous wing rib and sirloin on the bone to share, along with a rib eye for Jake. If I'm being completely honest I could hardly tell the difference between the two bone-in steaks, but for slightly more fat on the wing rib.
The beef was cooked perfectly rare, and was ridiculously good. I've had a fair few steaks in London now (thank you media lunches), and this one blew the others away. What's more, it was about half the price of most steakhouses with the whole meal coming to around £25 each.
On the side we chose potatoes, grilled radicchio, and a tomato and basil salad to share. A refreshing change from the fries and bearnaise sauce that I gorge myself on at most steakhouses.
We were all stuffed and satisfied by the end of the meal, with poor Alice who doesn't eat much red meat almost needing to be carried home (she begged us, we laughed). But despite her food comatose, we agreed that it was definitely one of the best meals we had had in a while.
If you're in East London make sure you visit this one - they don't take bookings but there's usually not a long wait (if any) for a table. Enjoy!
