When it comes to the juiciest, beefiest cut in town, city slicker Blackhouse Gastrobar has you covered….. but that’s by no means the whole story.
Situated at 31-33 East Parade, step inside and you will find an industrial, chic space where cow is king. And these guys sure know what they’re doing. For 18 years, Blackhouse has been sizzling up unadulterated slabs of meat from both home and abroad, with a sharing menu celebrating the finest local and seasonal produce, changing regularly to bring a fresh feel to every visit.
Both the venue itself and the menu have an exclusive feel, and whilst the choice between the 280g sirloin and the classic 340g Ribeye is a simple one, the quality alone has meat fans in the City seriously well catered for. It’s reasonably priced, too.
Whilst many mid to upper end steak houses in Manchester and London can set you back £100 or more for the cut of meat alone, Blackhouse’s offering is far more affordable – with the sirloin and ribeye coming in at £29 and £34 respectively – and the portions are more than substantial.
My choice? The fillet. And – as you’d expect from an establishment which positions itself as a steak wonderland – it was tender and juicy to a fault, with a super hot sear and wonderful texture.
Whilst there is always a range of seasonal vegetables on offer (think roasted roots and greens to the more cosmopolitan pickled beets and walnuts), don’t forget to order the signature hand-cut beef dripping chips, which are meltingly soft in the middle yet, thanks to being fried to high heaven in dripping, benefit from that moreishly crispy, salty crunch.
At the time of writing, sauce options include a red wine and bone marrow gravy, plus the more classic peppercorn for an additional £3 each, and if you smile at the staff nicely, they might even whip you up their special blue cheese.
For more moderate appetites, the Gastrobar have a seasonally changing small plates menu, which currently includes naked serve oysters (with optional lemon, shallots, vinegar, tabasco or verdita), house cured salmon with horseradish mascarpone, grilled king scallop gratinee, and beef fillet tartare with bone marrow.
Vegetarians are also catered for, though frankly less so, with the striking looking porcini dumplings, served in a vegetable broth with oyster mushrooms.
Whilst we visited on a humble Wednesday evening, come the weekend the bar resounds with shrieks of laughter from cocktail-lovers holding sloshing, happy glasses and the restaurant quarter is buzzy and vibrant.
Top quality steak and a mean Sunday roast is the real reason to come, but the place offers a venerable
cocktail menu, with favourites being the Louis Le Prince, an intriguing potion of Martell Vs, Espresso, Mozart Dark Chocolate and Brioche, plus the playfully themed Wagyu Old Fashioned and the Sticky Toffee Russian.
The vino list is also worth a firm nod. Blackhouse use a revolutionary device called Coravin, which allows glasses of wine to be poured from luxury bottles without decanting them fully, effectively as good as re-sealing them for freshness.
A glass of the 57 Rocas Carmenere Colchagua Chilean was my personal favourite and when I got home, I immediately googled where to buy a bottle. Hearty, smooth with a dazzling cherry-red hue, it was the best glass of wine I have had for a long, long time (and I enjoyed my fair share over Christmas.)
If, like me, you’ve already waved a wistful goodbye to your January resolutions, Blackhouse also have a very tempting pudding menu that invites every discerning palate to explore.
Whilst the classic Sticky Toffee Pudding takes pride of place at the top of the list for good reason, we chose to observe the two recommendations from our fantastic server, Jake. He’d done us a solid in convincing us to try the crispy pork belly with red thai curry sauce and the arancini with crispy sage for starters (volunteering his Italian heritage as cannon fodder if he was wrong about the latter), and so our trust in him to steer us through the voyage of the puds was absolute.
The Pistacchio and Chocolate Cremeux: top notch. Rich, sweet and indulgent, yet finely balanced, served in an attractive martini glass and layered with mellow green and walnut colours so indulgent-looking I could taste them before the spoon had reached my mouth.
The second dessert was the Rose Poached Pear with vanilla mascarpone. It was prettily presented yet not strikingly so. I had pushed for it as “something different” to share, whilst my dining partner’s preference was the Sticky Toffee, so when the pear arrived looking small and distinctly like a piece of fruit, I could feel the judgement and dismay radiating from him like a warm African breeze.
More fool him. The poached pear, we both concluded (though him grudgingly so), is an absolute triumph and my only complaint is that there wasn’t more of it. The pear was hot on the inside, the rose flavour perfectly fragrant and sweet, not at all overwhelming as is so often the case. The dessert provided great delight and merriment paired with the crumble and gentle cream. It is a knock-out plate of winter
scrumptiousness that felt naughty and light all at once – an ideal follow-up to a heavy, meat-centric meal.
The verdict? I’d always thought of Blackhouse solely as a steak restaurant and whilst, granted, the pull of the chateaubriand is always going to be hard to ignore, the elegance and finesse with which the pork belly, arancini and dessert courses were served has me convinced that the venue is transgressing the boundaries of its origins and becoming one of the best places to eat in the City, full stop.
Next time, that halibut has my name on it.
Blackhouse Gastrobar is open 12 – 11pm, Monday through to Sunday. You can find
out more or book a table via their website: BLACKHOUSE Gastrobar | Leeds.
