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Review

Sophie’s Steakhouse & Bar

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311 – 313 Fulham Road, London SW10 Tel: 020 7352 0088
Cost: about £30/three courses a la carte

To talk of a modern steak house might seem a contradiction in terms as we have become so used to chain identities and all that implies, in a steak-eating experience, meat-theme park sort of way. You know the drill - pictures of oversized overfed prize winning cattle in heavy frames dripping with gold leaf at the classy end; while at the other end it’s all ersatz cheerfulness, paper placemats with amusing games for the children and questions like ‘Have you ever been to a Meat Locker’s before?’, followed by directions to the all-you-can-eat salad bar. Dentistry without anaesthesia would be less painful.

A steak house used to be a place where you could have a good piece of beef, properly cooked, with some other good dishes to round out the meal. And in this everything-that’s-old-has-become-new-again world, that is what Sophie’s Steakhouse has done. Rather than trying to look like a steakhouse, Sophie’s looks like an interesting modern restaurant – plaster skim walls, lots of naked bulbs on long black cords twisted around ceiling beams and an open hatch to the kitchen.

The food is what it should be. Beef is ‘naturally raised and individually selected from farms in Scotland and Northern Ireland and aged for 28 days’. There are three steaks on offer, ribeye, fillet and contre filet. Cooking is precise, steaks are accompanied by good chips, house-branded steak sauce and béarnaise. Good meat, simply done, although I find I want a bit more flavour, so a garlic rub or crushed peppercorns are what I crave halfway through. Before, a very good Caesar salad, a crab salad rather shy on the essential ingredient, house salad with choice of blue cheese, Thousand Island or house dressing. . Besides steaks other mains on offer include fish and chips, grilled lobster, a tempting sounding burger flavoured with chilli, garlic, capers and herbs, a couple of pies, spit roasted chicken and a good assortment of sandwiches – steak, lobster, chicken. Desserts made my fillings ache, both the chocolate brownie with unnecessary chocolate sauce (in case the sugar content wasn’t high enough) and bread and butter pudding. The wine list is reasonably priced and service is good. No surprises then that it’s already become a neighbourhood favourite.