Food Review Gaucho
Simon O'Hare pays a visit to Leeds' new Argentinean steak house
Food Review: Gaucho
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Gaucho is a brave name for a restaurant, given that it’s the word for an Argentinean cowboy. If they were dishing out sub-standard grub at sky high prices, the puns could go into overdrive. As it happens, we were treated to a high-class feed at this new city centre eatery, making any cowboy accusation plainly unfair. Nevertheless, it must be stressed the prices here are unashamedly high-end, so for many it might require a special occasion to justify the outlay.
The ultra-modern surroundings are slick – this is the kind of place where you’re not quite sure if that room over there really is a room, or just a mirror. The sort of place that’s so darned cool it needn’t include the words Ladies and Gentlemen on the sign for the toilets: a simple < F M > suffices. Gaucho is a chain that includes 12 restaurants in the London area and another one in Manchester, and the London base must go some way to explaining the ambitious prices: starters begin at £7.50; a 300g fillet steak comes in at a cool £28.50; a double shot of Havana Club 7-year rum will set you back £7.70. Recession or not, these are eye-watering figures.
A steak restaurant will live or die by the quality of its beef, and the quality on our visit is very high. As it’s our first time at Gaucho, our extremely helpful waiter brings a platter of raw beef to the table to take us through the flavours and textures of the various cuts. I opt for the cuadril churrasco (£18), a butterflied rump steak in a piquant marinade, while my fellow diner goes for a 300g bife de chorizo (£20), a nice thick slab of sirloin that’s clearly seen a welcome level of heat, given its smoky barbecue-flavoured edges encasing the juicy red meat within. The succulent rump is also excellent, delivering a great depth of flavour, and we should also point out the accompanying chips (£2.75 per portion) are perfect, but then they should be at these prices. So in terms of the all-important steaks, Gaucho has come up with the goods.
The courses either side of the steaks are, appropriately, lighter on the stomach, ensuring that plenty of room is left for the star attraction. If you could imagine a cocktail in food form, the starter of tuna ceviche (£9.75) would be it: beautifully soft, raw fish sits in orange and grapefruit juices and combines with greenery to deliver wonderful mojito-like flavours, all freshness and light, the small pieces of tuna virtually melting on the tongue. Pan-fried squid (£7.50) also works well, the tender little morsels neatly complemented by peas, mint and a sprinkling of spring onion. For dessert, the chocolate cake (£7.50) is an absolute delight, its rich cakey goodness lifted by a sumptuous cardamom-scented orange and coffee cream. A vanilla flan (£6.50) is enjoyable but, as a fairly straightforward crème caramel-style creation, is perhaps less able to justify these extravagant prices.
Gaucho is also notable for its superb, if fairly expensive, range of wines. We wash down our meal with a lovely Gascon 1884 malbec (£30.75), which has a softness that belies its hefty 14% alcohol. The wine, along with a bottle of sparkling water (£3.25), nudges our total bill just beyond £100 – as we said, it’s not cheap. You could dine at Anthony’s or some Michelin-starred establishments for this kind of money. But as any good cowboy knows, it’s all about horses for courses: foodies will struggle to resist the impressive Gaucho, but those on a tight budget may look elsewhere.
21-22 Park Row, LS1 5JF, 0113 246 1777, www.gauchorestaurants.co.uk
Posted on Wednesday 9th June 2010
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