It was a classic dark and drizzly British evening when I ducked down an alley near Liverpool Street, and into the inviting doorway of the Chop House and Tavern.
Through the door, a simple choice: left into a handsome city pub or right into the restaurant – a reinvention of Sir Terence Conran’s original New Street Grill — and the temptations of a glass of red wine and a fine piece of meat. So, no real choice at all.
“Classic,” my AI tells me (does anyone still use Google?), means high quality, timeless value, and lasting significance, yet still as relevant as anything new. A tricky balance to pull off.
You have to be both tried and adventurous, established yet fresh, reassuringly great but still exciting. The Chop House somehow manages the balance.
Deeply tufted leather banquettes stand on solid oak floors beneath cream-white stone walls and dark velvet curtains exude quiet confidence.
It hits that sophisticated, hard-to-nail tone that steakhouse chains and hotel grills always chase but seldom reach. Perhaps because the walls here really are centuries old. You can’t fake that.
The crowd was exactly as you’d want it: a few business celebrations — tables of six or eight, men and women of action flashing credit cards and teeth like fireworks, their youthful bodies poured into tight white shirts and pencil skirts.
Nearby sat a pair of bosses, : one spectrally thin, the other jovially substantial, straight out of a Dickens subplot. They were quietly enjoying six courses, gently decanted claret, and a whole pig’s head.
A pair of gilded ones, clearly on a first or second date, impossibly beautiful and polished — as if they’d come straight from an influencer pageant. I imagined a squad of stylists to rush in for touch-ups, whenever I turned away; vanishing again when I looked back.
In the corner, two media (or maybe tech) strivers, one wearing a £200 T-shirt that read “Ask me about my T-Rex impression.” A cute garment for someone eating steak. I wish I’d asked her if it was deliberate.
A mix of after-work strivers, comfortable locals, and family-and-friend diners up from Essex. Liverpool Street Station is only a minute or two away.
Each one of the tables looked like it would have been excellent fun.
But what about the food? What about the steaks? There’s a reason I’ve spent so much time describing the room. Once you reach a certain level, steak cookery should be a given. You don’t pick a grill for the steak cooking, you expect it. You chose a steakhouse for the room, not the chef’s skills.
The Chop House delivers solid, classic, juicy, and fun. So is the steak.
Of course, the meat is British and ethically sourced from regenerative farms. It jolly well should be.
Other delights include creamed mushrooms on toast. Now normally I wouldn’t order something I can make at home, but this seemed so simple, I suspected it might be hiding something deeper. It was. They put sherry in the velvety sauce that gives the earthy mushrooms a sweetness and kick. It’s excellent. I’d be broke if I lived round the corner.
The Smoked Haddock Scotch Egg with Hot Apple Mustard was another winner. You can add caviar, as the bosses at the next table did, but you don’t need to. The apple mustard is revelation enough — like scraping the last bit of apple sauce and mustard onto the final roast potato after Sunday lunch. Greater than the sum of its ingredients.
The rib-eye, of course perfectly cooked, came with a peppery cream sauce — again with that hint of sherry, clearly the chef’s signature. And a good thing too..
My friend’s Ale-Braised Ox Cheek & Bone Marrow Pie looked exactly as it should and tasted even better (yes, there was sherry again).
Desserts continue the twist-on-a-classic theme: Treacle Tart & Clotted Cream, Sticky Toffee Pudding & Vanilla Ice Cream, Steamed Spotted Dick & Custard — comfort puddings reinvented, but still reassuringly familiar.
So next time your team seals that deal, the family comes in from Manningtree, or you’re simply caught in East London rain, duck down New Street and through those welcoming doors. You’ll be glad you did.
The Liverpool Street Chop House and Tavern – 16A New Street, Devonshire Square, London, EC2M 4TR – Liverpool Street Chop House | British Restaurant & Tavern – 020 3503 0785
Open Monday to Friday 12 noon to 11pm, Saturday 5pm to 11pm, closed on Sundays