This meal can steak a claim to greatness
TOMAHAWK STEAKHOUSE
2-5 East Essex Street, Dublin 2 Phone: 01 616 9564 tomahawksteakhouse.ie
IHAVE to confess that I feel in l ove with Tomahawk, despite my initial scepticism, on my first visit. For a start, there was the décor in this basement restaurant below Dollard Co — it’s very New York between the Wars, the New York of Brooks Brothers shirts, Ivy Leaguers and the Knickerbocker Club. And the meat and martinis were first class.
Fast f orward to 2020 and although Tomahawk reopened yesterday — who knows for how long the regulations will allow this — it has also been offering a taste of the restaurant at home.
We chose the beef version at €99 with all the trimmings (there’s a lamb one for €69 if you prefer), plus a bottle of wine for €17 and a chocolate pudding for €12 — more than enough to feed four hungry adults.
There’s some modest cooking involved but it’s very, very easy. The rib of beef was vacuumpacked and pre-seasoned and I started by opening this up, patting it dry with kitchen paper and leaving it to come up to room temperature.
And then, contrary to the instructions, I fired up the Weber barbecue with charcoal and prepared to cook the beef in the way that I usually do: outside the kitchen door, come hail, rain or shine.
Normal human beings would pre-heat the oven to 190ºC and pop the beef in for 20 minutes, then reduce the heat to 160ºC and cook for a further 80 minutes for a medium cook. Maybe a little less.
Then, regardless of cooking style, the meat needs 15 minutes to rest so that the fibres relax after all that heat. I put it on a wooden carving board near the Aga.
The pack comes with parboiled duck fat potatoes, which need 50 minutes, and root vegetables (seasoned parnsips and carrots) that take 40 minutes. So there’s a little bit of juggling and jostling for position in the oven.
The gravy and mashed potato come in microwavable containers (but on this occasion the spud didn’t; it was in foil!). However, being microwave-less, we popped the gravy into a saucepan and put the mash, covered, in the oven.
The peas were cooked, as instructed, in a saucepan with just a little water to emulsify the lemon butter.
And so to table, the meat rested, the trimmings ready, the Yorkshire puds briefly crisped, and appetites honed.
So how was it?
Well, the meat was perfect: succulent and j am- packed with beefy flavour, the result of 30 days dry-ageing. The gravy was silky and full of flavour, too, the sort that most home cooks would struggle to achieve — and I stuck with habits of a lifetime and started the meal by eating a Yorkshire pud liberally anointed with it. It was very good.
The spuds were mildly disappointing. We had expected great
cripsness but while they had good flavour, there was a certain flabbiness. The roast vegetables, however, were good, just browned and caramelised enough to enhance their own flavours.
The peas — we did manage the emulsification — were fine but not as good as ones straight from the freezer, odd as this may seem. This is because once peas are picked their natural sugars soon start to convert to starch. Very rapid cooking or very rapid freezing are the only ways to combat this natural phenomenon. So, yes, the peas in their tasty emulsion were a little starchy.
Horseradish cream was the sweet sort that you can get in the supermarket: grand in its own way but a bit like turning up in tracksuit bottoms when everyone else has dressed up.
And so to pudding, a chocolate sponge affair, good and dark and not too sweet and — as advised — we had this with good vanilla ice cream, a decadent combination if ever there was one.
The verdict? Outstanding meat, virtually all of the work done for you, no peeling and prepping, so deliciously convenient. It certainly serves four and could easily stretch to six.
THE SMART MONEY
OKAY, it’s not cheap but the meat is superb and there’s a great deal of convenience.
AND ANOTHER THING...
You need to book, by phone or online, at least 24 hours ahead. Delivery is available within Dublin for a fee of €5.