2 weeks Ago
“Let them eat steak” is the brash carnivorous call to arms at Stakehaus – a rather fabulous new option at Brighton’s seafront food hall, The Shelter Hall. It’s a homage to Marie Antoinette’s misguided (and misquoted) suggestion to ease the woes of famine-ravaged 18th Century French peasants. Obviously it’s impossible to know whether the those peasants would have been more or less receptive to the Stakehaus update, but let’s be honest, it couldn't have gone down much worse.
The small contingent of us from Argus towers were certainly a much less baying-for-blood, Regicidal kinda of mob and were even further becalmed after a few Spicy Margs. It was a Friday night visit, just ahead of the first week of Stakehaus’ first full week at Shelter Hall and the venue was pleasantly buzzy and not nearly as chocca as it can become in the wonderful summer months. Stakehaus is a booming little bidness, with two popular residencies in London (Camden Market and Seven Dials Market) and now BN1.
Founder Lily Smith has been slinging sustainably-sourced steaks all over London and beyond for almost ten years (after starting out at the tender age of 22!) and the expansion to the People’s Republic of Brighton and Hove seems like a good one for all concerned. Not least because the spot Stakehaus now occupies in Shelter Hall includes a mahoosive Japanese-style robata grill, which she says has added a extra charred dimension to the menu. All the meats we tried tasted like they'd been pleasantly kissed by flame, with an impressive bark (as the U.
S. barbecue pit-masters and pit-mistresses say) giving way to a perfectly cooked interior. As a largely flesh-loving crew we shared the Stakehaus three-meat platter: bavette steak, a roast beef sub and two beef sausages.
The eagle-eyed among you will notice that's not three different meats but one meat cooked and served differently. All the beef on show at Steakhaus comes from HG Walter, a London-based butcher which is all for animal welfare and supporting farmers. Every morsel comes from the UK is dripping with quality.
The thick slices of bavette were seared and as relaxed as a journalist after two negronis. Nicely seasoned and screaming with char-grill flavour. Beef sausage can be a curious thing but the Steakhaus variety was on point.
Fatter than our dear King's fingers, gently spiced and particularly good with some of the in-house sauerkraut (hauskraut obvs). The subs were also sound (we added an additional Philly Sub because we're greedy piggies) assembled with plenty of rump steak, onions, melted cheese and sauce alchemy. Another meaty highlight was the slow-cooked beef shin croquettes, a hefty hit of umami coated in Panko breadcrumbs, swiftly plunged into roast garlic mayo.
But despite appearances (and the previous 440 words) there's an especially good option for the vegans and veggies, of which we had one in our number. The 'slaughter-free' steak is both a marvel of modern science and impressively (faux) meaty. Supplied by Redefine Meat, they're actually 3-D printed using soya protein.
The idea is mind-boggling to a befuddled old carnivore but you can't argue with the resulting nicely-charred, well flavoured brisket-style 'steaks'. It's the closest meaty mouthfeel I've ever had from a veggie/vegan product and could well be the food of the future (Star Wars was way off with the blue milk). From futuristic non-meats we executed a hand-brake turn to the past with the pudding - a banana split! My nan would have liked the look of this very retro dessert, festooned with colourful hundreds and thousands, a proper glace cherry, and big dollop of clotted cream ice cream (correctly identified as clotted cream by a smug member of our group).
It's also worth mentioning the marvellous chippies. The early incarnations of Stakehaus were very steak and chip-based so the dynamic Lily definitely knows her way around a spud. The cracking skin-on fries had a good crisp to them and we steamed through plenty of them, the best being the ones covered in mozzarella and gravy, less like the Canadian poutine affair and more of a Southern Italy/Northern England mash-up.
It's hugely satisfying, fun, fuss-free food and a brilliant addition to the Shelter Hall roster..
