Constancia - authentic Argentinian in Bermondsey - Aug 2012

Happy little local Argentine grill Constancia has been dishing out steaks to a satisfied stream of regulars for over three years. They're obviously doing something right.

Sat on an unlovely stretch of Tower Bridge Road, if it's on the foodie's radar at all it's only due to the fact you walk past on the way to Maltby Street Market. On the evidence of this experience, I'd be happy recommending a closer examination.

Based around a central grill, you can't get away from the pervading heavenly scent of steak. After a pair of freshly cooked and suitably spicy beef empanadas, we dived straight into a mixed parrillida containing steaks and sausages.

Two big lumps of beefsteak, rump and ribeye, sizzle away on the compact coal fired tabletop grill. Two plump Argentine sausages are dense, spicy and uncommonly good. Morcilla, crumbly homemade black pudding, is also a treat. The whole plate load, combined with a bowl of parsley and garlic packed chips is verging on the excessive. We struggle manfully through, what with us being men, but it's a massive hit of fat and protein. I love it.

The meat sizzling away on the brazier is flavoursome, but unless plucked from the coals at the exact right moment inclined to toughness. There's no chance for it to rest when it's cooked at the table.

It's not the cheapest of meals, with a decent bottle of peppery Malbec we spent just under £50 a head, though compares well to the likes of Hawksmoor or Goodman and is a whole lot better than the nearby Gaucho. It's great to have another option locally though and I'll definitely be back when next hankering for a hunk of cow.

   

Sabor - the Argentinian at the end of the (Essex) Road - Aug 2011

Where: Sabor, Islington
With who: Team Dogface
How much: Starters were £6ish each, mains hover between £13 and £16
Come here if: you're called by ceviche, or have an urge for an empanada

"She'll bite you... If I tell her." being slightly intimidated by a toothless man wielding a lhasa apso wasn't how I'd planned to spend my Saturday evening, and I was lucky at this point that we shared a common language, 'slightly pissed', enabling me to smile and gurn my way out of trouble. Granted, he was slightly more fluent than I, elevated only slightly from the level of street drinker by dint of the pub bench he sat at. Sat outside the New Rose, next door to Sabor and a glimpse of the other Islington. Only a mile from but a million miles removed from the gentrified surroundings of Islington Green and Upper Street.

Essex Road has sidestepped most of the ill effects of recent gentrification, with the odd outriding bar or restaurant gradually spreading the money down from Upper Street and Islington Green. As you head further down, these become fewer and further between, replaced instead with a scattering of old style cafes, blacked out pub windows, bottle shops and the more colourful side of street life. I like it, but then I live in Camberwell.

We weren't here for the salty locale though, we were here on recommendation, punctuating an evening's drinking with a bite to eat at the relatively upmarket 'Nuevo Latino' cantina Sabor. It's a thin, bright space with white walls, primary coloured tables and an eclectic selection of South American objects scattered across the wall, somewhere across between a child's playgroup and gap year returnee's bedroom.

The food was well meaningly authentic but fairly scattergun, starting with a warm but too dry cornbread. I went for a seemingly Peruvian style of potato known as Papas Rellenas, essentially a thickened mash with a spiced minced meat filling, served with a tomato 'foam' on the side. It wasn't disastrous, but watching others plough into hot flakey empanadas and surprisingly solid vegetarian quesadillas I did have a little pang. There were some great dishes among the starters in the group, sadly mine wasn't one of them.

For my main I went for a rib-eye. Well cooked and a great bit of meat to boot. Unfortunately the balsamic glazed plantain that it came with was a little eye-watering for me though. It's an interesting idea, but the al dente discs of banana's bigger brother just didn't take enough of the marinade on, leaving it darkly slick across the plate. It clashed with the over-garlicky chimichurri like two rival gangs on my palate.The lettuce accompanying was just pointless. A classic piece of menu Tourettes. I regretted my choice watching across the tiny toy tables as Pickleodeon ploughed into a Cuban shredded beef brisket and rice dish with a wonderful piquancy to it. There were similar positive murmurs about the red snapper. It certainly smelt good, though the sample I tried got mugged on the way to my tastebuds by that chimichurri.

Desserts followed the theme. My chocolate tres leches was a classic three milk brownie, dense and sticky, a perfect balance of texture, sweet and bitter. Two of the party went for what seemed like a sweetened, poached tomato, served disingenuously with a spoon of highly alcoholic rum and raisin. 

It's a fun, friendly and fairly good value night out. I don't see myself back here at any point in the near future, but that's more the area than the restaurant. It's worth popping in if you're nearby.

   

Steak Club @ A la Cruz - The Second Meating - Apr 2011

Where: A la Cruz, Farringdon
With who: 15 good steaks and true
How much: starters between £3 and £6, mains vary wildly, but for £20 you'll have more meat than you can cope with
Come here if: you're organising a big party for carnivores.

While Gaucho have cornered the market in the pricier end of fine Argentine dining they're not the only cooks on the block specialising in the meat heavy cuisine of the region. John Rattagan, of Buen Ayre fame, is making his own slower push into the market. His original has been a popular authentic local staple on Hackney's Broadway Market since 2004 and the management team have moved a little up market to a converted pub between Farringdon and Exmouth Market. Opened in 2009, it's the first proper asador (named after the traditional fire pit that cooks most of the meat) in the UK.

Where the original is a little rough and ready with a large open firepit on which hunks of meat sit and sizzle, they've tricked this one out slightly differently. White walls, dark woods and a more refined air should justify a higher end price tag, but thankfully they don't hike the prices to match. You can eat well here for not much more than a starter at Gaucho. Thankfully too, the grill at the heart of the restaurant remains.

Empanadas, the rock and roll brother of the Cornish pastie, stuffed with densely packed spiced mince (beef naturally) and deep-fried for extra emphasis, they are a staple of Latino street food. Here they're petit recreations, almost a little too refined, served with a fairly forgettable salad of roast veggies and thankfully, lest we saw them as too healthy, a slice of melted provolone cheese. 

These were followed swiftly by plates of mixed sausages and charred, chewy sweetbreads, known as Mollejas in Argentine. The latter were served with vegetarian taunting similarity to barbequed halloumi, jazzed up with a sharp lemon drizzle. The sausages were fine in the main though the morcilla, Argentine blood sausage based on pork, was best. Dark, herby and with a subtle chilli tang, it was soft enough to spread on bread and truly a thing of beauty. 

Nice as these all were, the steak's the thing. Served to the table on Parillada grills, thin metal trays heated with charcoal, they're mighty meaty lumps of rump and rib-eye. The advertised 300g per head feels like an under-estimation initially but it's more than enough to tame the most savage beast and we're forced to send shamefacedly for doggy bags. Great cuts, cooked well. The secret here is to get enough onto your plate before the residual heat of the grill takes it past the desired level of done.

Unable to give it true justice, I remember enjoying a dulce de leche ice-cream and some fine coffee to finish, but I only had thoughts for home, my bed, and a long snooze. Meat dreams are made of this...