Gaucho is a small chain of high end Argentine steak restaurants based in London. Manchester was the only branch outside of the capital until this week when the Leeds location opened its doors for the first time.
The lovely people at Gaucho kindly invited Liam and I along for a free taste of what the restaurant has to offer. I apologise now for the photos, my camera phone does not stand up well to the low light levels of some restaurants, so please use your imagination folks.
With the basement location of what used to be the Firefly bar, its easy to miss the entrance to the restaurant as you are walking past. The only clues are the name on the wall and a set of steps down from the street level.
The interior is a striking mix of black and white, with mirrors, chandeliers and cow print. The seats and some of the walls are covered with real cow hides- with the hair still on. It looks effective, but take a cardi if your wearing a backless dress as it might feel a bit strange on your bare skin! The trendy upmarket atmosphere is accentuated by the funky dance music playing in the background.
The menu is a modern take on Argentine classics. There is a good selection of fish dishes on the starter menu, and then the main courses are mostly steak based, but with a small selection of other meaty dishes.
This is not by any standard a vegetarian friendly restaurant. If sitting on cow skins was not enough to put you off your mushroom risotto, the waiter bringing a platter of raw steaks to the table for an explanation of cuts and their flavours and textures probably would be. As a hardened carnivore I was delighted by this, and chose the sirloin steak that had been spiral cut and then marinaded.
For my starter I had a beef and ham & cheese empanadas. These are traditional Argentine pasties. They were delicious, with light pastry and tasty fillings- nothing special, but I don't think it is possible to make what is essentially a mini pasty fancy in any way without getting silly.
Liam had the pan fried squid which was light and fresh- ideal when you have the prospect of a 10oz steak to tackle.
As it was opening week, there was a sommelier on hand to help with the wine selection. He gave us various things to try and explained that all the wines at Gaucho are from Argentina, some are made exclusively for the restaurant including the Vina Patricia Malbec which is produced by the restaurant's very own vineyard.
For the wine buff there are over 200 wines to choose from, including a rare and fine vintage selection. For the wine pleb like me there are choices starting at around £5 a glass/£20 a bottle.
We were also provided with a selection plate of the Ceviches and Tiraditos- traditional way of preparing raw fish by 'cooking' in citrus juices. The tuna with the orange, lemon and soy dressing was particularly good. This method makes the fish delicate and tender, and preserves much more of the flavour unlike cooking with heat. Well worth trying and again a good light option if you are trying to save space for your steak.
The main event was of course the Argentine steaks. I ordered mine with fries and humitas a pureed corn dish which was sweet and buttery. The steaks, as expected were huge, cooked to perfection (medium rare) and so tender from the marinade that we were not provided with steak knives- they really were not required. The marinade really made the steak special - well worth paying a couple of quid extra for.
Having got this far it would have been rude to turn down pudding. Liam chose a toffee cheesecake from the specials board and I in an act of selfless research had the desert sampler.
On this I had a cheesecake (light as air and balanced with a sweet toffee sauce) a coconut panacotta (delicately flavoured, soft and creamy) and the chocolate cake (dense, sticky with wonderfully bitter cocoa flavours). The portions were quite small, but this was not the time or the place for huge desserts after all that steak.
The service throughout was spot on (which you would expect when they knew we were reviewing the place) I hope this was not just for our benefit. The waiting staff were smart and efficient whilst remaining friendly and genuine (you can imagine staff getting quite stuck up and snotty in a place like this) and they really seemed to know about and care for the food they were serving.
This is not a restaurant for the feint hearted, the steaks were huge, and the prices even bigger. Our bill, had we paid would have been well in excess of £100. I think for this you are not only paying for the excellent quality food (because the food really was top notch), but for the exclusivity. This will be the place to be seen if you have cash to flash or a date, clients, or in-laws to impress.
Gaucho
*High end classic steak house
*Excellent quality food and service
*Glamorous, exclusive and expensive
21-22 Park Row
Leeds
LS1 5JF
0113 246 1777
Website
I went for lunch today at the new City Inn hotel in Granary Wharf. Although the hotel is part of a chain, the City Inn people do their best to make each hotel individual and involved with the local community- there is currently an exhibition of Opera North costumes in the foyer of the hotel.
The service throughout was polite and efficient, from the moment I walked into the foyer to when the bill was paid (although there was a slight blip when it took a while for us to get someone to come over to take the card payment but that was the only thing).
