Steak+ (part 2)

I awoke Saturday morning with a heavy belly and with the smell of the previous nights beef still lingering in the air. So you can imagine the task of calling up a steak house and booking a table for that same evening was not particularly appealing. But persevere I did and by noon that day I’d confirmed a table for 4 at Chiswick’s foremost meat eatery, Chakalaka.

I was first made aware of Chakalaka through a piece of direct mail which landed on my doorstep. Normally I deposit such junk straight into the recycle bin, but on this occasion an interesting headline caught my attention. Chakalaka – a South African restaurant located on Barley Mow Passage – was offering a free t-shirt to anyone who successfully completed their steak challenge. In the words of my good friend & founding S.A.S member Dylan, they could not have sent their marketing communication to a better suited recipient.

I was joined at Chakalaka by Mark Savage, Alex Edwards & Nick Kernaghan. We all agreed to take the steak challenge, which we were told involved eating 25 ounces (700 grams) of prime Rump steak in less than 25 minutes. Confident that this was an achievable task, we asked what the record time was, which we were told was a little under 10 minutes. Personally I prefer not to rush my meals, so the thought of scoffing beef at a rate of 100g/minute was not something that appealed to me. The same could not be said for Mr. Kernaghan however, who decided that the record was his for the taking. When the steak arrived Nick wasted no time in getting started. And within a couple of minutes he had made a mighty dent on the Rump.

Meat Mountain

Chakalaka is most accurately described as a themed restaurant. The decor is hideous, complete with zebra prints, Zulu artwork and other South African paraphernalia. The waiters and bar staff are nice people – our waiter John in particular – but they are certainly not knowledgeable about the food they serve. My expectation of the food we were going to eat was therefore not very high.

But when I first tasted the Namibian organic rump I was more than impressed. The meat was cooked to perfection. I ordered it medium-rare, as I find rump steak that is cooked rare usually retains a little too much blood for my liking. It was slightly salted and had a great texture and natural flavour to it. For those who like sauce they had either a mushroom,pepper or monkey gland on offer. However being a purest I opted for none of the above.

Whilst the rest of us slowly chewed our way through our mountains of meat, Nick was well on his way to smashing that record. By the time he’d finished his last mouth-full only 8 minutes had passed, a pretty impressive feat by anyone’s standards. The remainder of us all managed to empty our plates within the 25 minute threshold and were deservedly presented with our Chakalaka t-shirts soon after.

We wobbled out the restaurant at about 11PM and stopped for a brief night cap before heading home.

I’ve calculated that this weekend I have eaten almost 2 kilos of steak. Note to self: go for a long run this week and book yourself in for a colonic.

T-bone at Jack’s Place

T-bone at Jack's Place

My friend Mark recently took me to an old favourite restaurant of his called Jack’s Place in Battersea. He’d been promising to take me there for almost 6 years knowing that I’d love the simplicity of the place and would get on well with the owner Jack. Sadly we left it a little too late to visit as Jack had passed away only a month before we finally made it there, leaving his daughter to run the shop. One feels that with Jack’s departure some of the restaurants personality died with him. Certainly it was quiet when we were there and that was a Friday evening.

Mark

Nonetheless it was an experience to saviour. The restaurant feels like a scrapbook of Jack’s life as a restaurateur. The walls are laden with bunches of mens ties, which he apparently clipped from their necks with a pair of scissors. There are literally hundreds of them.  The place was evidently a popular celebrity juant over the years as the walls are covered with signed photos of people who’ve tasted Jack’s wares and no doubt donated their ties to him. None stranger than Jimmy Carter. I was told that Jack’s was a regular feature on the itinerary of the White House when they visited London. In fact they took such a shining to Jack that they invited him and his wife to join them at the White House in Washington. Again something documented by photos on the walls.

The steak was as good as I was told it would be. For me there was only one thing on the menu and that was Jack’s legendary T-bone as pictured above. The meat was great quality. I’ve misplaced the name of the butcher but I will ask for it on my next visit.

Verdict: Worth a visit.