Is London's Best Steak Restaurant Worth The Hype? We Review Hawksmoor Wood Wharf For Date Night

When you have restaurants in Ireland, America and the UK - including seven steak restaurants in London, you know you’re doing something right. Amongst bourbon biscuits and espresso martinis, I have no qualms in saying Hawksmoor is one of the capital’s greatest achievements. Its original outpost is in Spitalfields but I found myself battling gusts of rain to make it through the doors of Hawksmoor Wood Wharf, which impressively gives the illusion of a floating Canary Wharf restaurant.

The Hawksmoor Wood Wharf menu has a winning formula.

Shaking off a wet jacket and ditching my brolly at reception (British summertime, you cease to amaze me), I was immediately welcomed with that familiar buzz that comes with the territory of dining at this meat-forward empire. We were seated at a corner booth beside the stairs with menus in our hands almost immediately after our derrières touched the seat. Dimmed lighting, floor-to-ceiling windows, soft leather brown chairs and art deco touches in flooring and light fixtures work together to make this place timeless.

Speaking of timeless, the menu here is the definition of that, too. It’s packed with classic, comforting dishes that will never age, no matter how many days you mark off your calendar.

When it comes to Canary Wharf restaurants - Hawksmoor is a must-try. 

Hawksmoor demonstrates, time and time again, what it is to make incredible dishes with quality, honest ingredients. Their roasted scallops in white port and garlic butter (£18) caused silence around the table. Three fishy cylinders were perfectly cooked, served in a pungent garlic butter worth every awkward moment of bad breath. Their Devon Cab with cucumber salad (£18) was another corker of a dish. Needles of fresh white crab meat were piled high on toasted bread and demolished within minutes. We ordered a bottle of Weingut Johanneshof Reinisch, Zweigelt 2020 (£45) to wash everything down. It was smooth with hints of black cherries but I wish I'd gone for something slightly fuller bodied. 

Our main courses - although plentiful in options - were, of course, steak. A 300g rump (£27) and a 300g fillet steak (£45) demanded salvating, especially when paired with a hearty selection of sides. The macaroni cheese (£7) was just as rich as it was gluttonous; our first scoop of pasta came with a theatrical 20cm cheese pull. Creamed spinach (£7) was plentiful and the crisp beef dripping chips (£6.50), a compulsory purchase. Being a birthday, we shelled out on a half Dartmouth lobster, too. The addition of some perfectly cooked shellfish meant our meal was inadvertently upgraded to a surf and turf. 

The Hawksmoor Wood Wharf menu has a winning formula.

Anyone who's been here before knows that no Hawksmoor visit is complete without a portion of their famous salted caramel rolos (£6). Homemade in the kitchen every week, these round chocolates come filled with a molten lava of smooth caramel that will unlock endorphins you never knew you had. The sticky toffee pudding (£9) - also very impressive, was the second dessert giving us a rounded and completely indulgent finish to our meal. 

The DesignMyNight Digest 

Going to this steak restaurant is like meeting that old friend you haven’t caught up with in an age. The minute you leave, you promise you’ll do it more often. Our dinner at Hawksmoor Wood Wharf was outrageously good. The ambience was flawless and the food was another showcase of how you can win the hearts of people by delivering consistently. If I had to choose a restaurant worth donning bad breath for, this is most certainly it. 

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