Multi Celebrations at The Ox

Just before Christmas we decided we deserved a treat. As the Ox Clifton had just opened up five minutes from our door we thought testing out their lunch steak deal would be wise. £12.50 for a 6oz rump steak, chips and your choice of sauce plus a glass of wine. However this blog post will mainly focus on our evening visit, the day after new years day, aka Bud's birthday. Just after New Years you might still be feeling a little fragile from the festivities of welcoming in 2016 or you might be annoying friends all over social media with the smug posts about detoxing. I however was embracing the opportunity to check out the evening menu at the Ox.

Often stated as a fact that the Ox is the best place to enjoy a steak in Bristol. As I am partial, read extremely here, to a steak a visit was embarrassingly long overdue. The Clifton branch of the Ox only opened a few months ago but considering the date soon after Christmas it was pretty busy in there. The decor is vintage, lots of dark wood, classical art, taxidermy and pre war advertising. Think the kind of place Don Draper would take clients in Mad Men and you've got it about right.

Steak is the general focus of the menu but there are some tempting mains and starters to sway your decision making. Our lunch visit for example tempted us with some ribs to start the meal with. Also they offer a lot luxurious items on toast everything from charcoal roasted mushrooms to bacon, pigs trotters and foie gras. They also have an impressive wine list I tested a glass of rioja out and it was silky smooth, the boys ordered some beers of which there is a decent selection of crafts to suit all tastes.

Food wise ordering was pretty straight forward we all went for rib eyes, because in my opinion it's the best cut of steak, and a few extra sides like macaroni cheese and their version of a mini caesar salad. Service at the Ox is very friendly, relaxed but attentive enough to make you feel at home, which can be something which is hard to pitch right.

fall off the bone ribs starter from our first visit

ribeye and triple cooked chips

6oz rump lunch deal with peppercorn sauce

mac n cheese

Steaks arrived and we got stuck in. First things first the Ox do the best chips I've had with a steak, a real crunch but also fluffy, these things are super addictive I could eat plates and plates of them dipping them in peppercorn or bearnaise sauce, absolutely gorgeous. The salad that Rich and I had to share was also really great, generous shavings of parmesan but not too much dressing to overwhelm the crisp cos lettuce. Our friend Michael kindly let us try the macaroni cheese, which he was deeply enamoured with, it was very rich and creamy but for me a touch too salty.

As for the main event. The steak was good. Cooked medium rare as requested, a tasty piece of beef. Definitely up there for steaks I have had in Bristol. Price wise its slightly more than the Cowshed down the road so perhaps best saved for a special occasion but the lunch deal is very good value although I found the rump not as juicy as the ribeye but that's rump for you. For £12.95 you can't knock that level of deal. The atmosphere is also particularly engaging, it won't be my last visit to the Ox, particularly with it being right on my doorstep. To find out more about the Ox visit their website.

Friday Night is Steak Night at CAU

The first Friday of August Kym was invited to a preview evening of CAU, Carne Argentinan Unica by the way, to give feedback to the restaurant before their opening the following Monday. Such a saint is Kym, she invited me to come with her so we could experience what the latest steak restaurant in Bristol had to offer. CAU is run by the same team who brought us fancy, mostly London based, Argentinian steak chain Gaucho, and was launched as a more accessible and more affordable version. We were welcomed by Edward, our waiter for the evening, into the restaurant and he was enthusiastic and attentive, a great guy. I would describe the decor as how 60s entertainment execs imagined life in space would be, think Space 1999 or 2001: A Space Odyssey and you have CAU's interior down to a tee.

Edward, our enthusiastic CAUboy (yes I agree a totally cringy title)

The menu for CAU, as you would imagine, is largely beef based but other than steak you can order pork belly, a burger, chicken and fish, there are few vegetarian options but largely I would say the choice is mainly a carnivore's playground.  I ordered a large glass of Syrah and Kym tested one of their mocktails, it is worth noting they do a selection of Malbecs as well so you can match your Argentinian steak with a home grown wine.

There were some tempting dishes on the starters/small plates menu we decided that sharing two was the best policy so we opted for the salt and pepper squid which came with chipotle mayonnaise plus a dish of the belly of pork tempura with 'CAUchup'.  Steak wise they all come in grams so I have imperialised them for the sake of comparison to other steak places. CAU offer a fair few options starting with an 8oz rump for £13.95 but they also offer some more unfamiliar cuts the most expensive being an 18oz Tira de Ancho, described as the King of Steaks.

Rib-eye has always been my favourite cut so I decided to order the 12oz version cooked medium rare. Kym opted for the Tira de Ancho, a spiral cut of rib-eye marinated in chimichurri and grilled slowly, although ordered rare, Edward said that the chefs recommend having it medium rare because it is such a thick cut. It is worth noting that all CAU steaks come with chips, thin or thick, or a salad.

salt and pepper squid

pork belly tempura bites

The starters looked pretty tasty, and the portions were fairly generous.  The squid was crunchy and well seasoned with the heat from the chili coming through nicely. I personally found the chipotle mayonnaise a little heavy and cloying for the squid but the flavour of the mayonnaise would be great with chips. If you try any starter at CAU let it be the pork belly tempura bites, wonderfully juicy melt in the mouth pork with a crunchy tempura shell, hugely indulgent and addictive. The self titled CAUchup, made in house, was like a light smokey barbeque sauce and it paired with the pork belly bites very nicely.

12oz Rib-eye

"The King of Steaks"

crispy fries

My oh my, what juicy steaks these meaty beasts turned out to be.  I was pretty surprised by how good the steak was actually, really well seasoned, chargrilled flavour and perfectly cooked, I would go as far to say this was the best steak I have sampled in Bristol so far, although I have yet to try the hallowed Ox yet.  The fries were nice and crispy, I always prefer fries with a steak given the choice so you don't fill up too much on a thick cut chip.  Kym's steak was pretty large but full of flavour and I always enjoy a chimichurri sauce with a steak as it adds a fresh element.

Nicely full we had just about enough room for a scoop of coconut sorbet, they do a little 1 scoop for under £2 for when you want something sweet but nothing too heavy.  All in all CAU offers up some extremely tasty steaks, I was very impressed, I think some of the small plates are a touch pricey but they were very delicious and ours were rich enough to share.  If you like steak then I strongly urge you to pay CAU a visit, it will surprise you.  As a preview evening our food was free but we paid for our drinks and the service charge, this did not influence how I thought about the meal though, I am too opinionated for that. To find out for yourself what CAU has to offer visit their website.

Pre Birthday Steak at The Cowshed

One of Rich's favourite things to eat in the world, besides marzipan, is steak. The Thursday before his birthday we booked into The Cowshed so Bud could purchase a birthday steak for the birthday boy, a very pleasing gift to Rich indeed. We had been to The Cowshed before but not for about 3 years and as restaurants that specialise in steak seem to be a bit of a rare thing in Bristol, this seemed to be our only option for some good quality steaks.

a glance at the menu

Steaks hover around the £20 and slightly under which does not include sides. Rich and I decided to choose our favourite steak cut, ribeye whilst Bud went for his favourite, the T-Bone. Knowing that the meat would be of excellent quality, coming from Ruby and White's next door Rich asked for his steak to be cooked rare, whereas I went for my usual medium rare. We ordered two sides of fries to share and sat back to relax with beers for the men and a glass of Malbec for me.

Ribeye steak

medium rare

chips close up

The steaks arrived after about 15 minutes all chargrilled and juicy. They tasted as good as they looked, perfectly cooked and seasoned. The chips were also well cooked, crunchy, yet fluffy. My only complaint was that there weren't quite as many chips as I was expecting. Two bowls was a bit scanty for three of us, which has not been the case in all places, on the chip front I took a gamble but it didn't pay off. The meat quality was superb however although still not quite as good as Hudson's in Bath, this is definitely the best tasting steak you'll get in Bristol.

After the chip mis-judgement we were still a little peckish so decided to take a peek at the dessert menu Bud and I were swayed by the cheesecake of the day, vanilla and Rich chose a chocolate torte with a hint of espresso and orange.

Chocolate torte

Vanilla cheesecake with honeycomb and vanilla ice cream

Beautifully presented rich desserts that really hit the spot, we left feeling satisfied but not totally stuffed which is sometimes much better because you can actually do things after dinner instead of collapsing in a sleepy heap on the sofa. So if you've got a steak craving do check out The Cowshed and what it has to offer, you can definitely expect some high quality steak that's for sure.