Flat Iron Covent Garden | Top-Class Steak That Won’t Break The Bank
What is a Flat Iron?
1. (n) Formerly an iron for pressing clothes, heated by being placed on a coal stove.
2. (n) A choice cut of steak, taken from the shoulder.
3. (n) A steak n’ cocktails joint which – ten years after opening as a pop up above an East London pub – now has eleven restaurants dotted around the city.
Flat Iron Covent Garden is the third in the family, alongside Flat Iron Soho, Flat Iron Waterloo, Flat Iron Denmark St, Flat Iron Spitalfields… and others that we’ll get to eventually. Its rock-solid status on our list of the best steak restaurants in London is, like their menus, very simple to understand: rub-your-hands-together-with glee-good steak, at incredibly fair prices (£13, yes indeed), and sourced from their own private herd of cattle that’s based up in North Yorkshire.
Meat is obviously king here, but it’s more than just one-trick-pony and even if you don’t partake in steak, the truffled mac and cheese (coated in a crunchy parmesan crust) and the roast aubergine with tomato basil and mozzarella are reason enough to visit. Here’s what you can expect from Flat Iron Covent Garden:
Image credit: Sam Harris
THE PLACE
It’s a bi-level, 4,500sq ft. ode to beef on Henrietta Street, spread over two floors and plumped amid the bustle of Covent Garden. That makes this the biggest Flat Iron of them all (you can fit about 180 carnivores in here, so you should be all good with walk-ins) and they’ve certainly made the most of the vast space; also containing a bar dedicated solely to celebrating the craftsmanship of Yorkshire Beer, as well as a glass-fronted on-site butcher shop, where inside you’ll find ‘Butcher In Residence’ Jordan Ling carving up an extended range of lesser known beef cuts.
Image credit: Sam Harris
THE FOOD AND DRINK
All of what Flat Iron loyalists know and love, going way back to the original pop-up, is still here at Flat Iron Covent Garden. There’s the gelato counter serving hand-churned Tahitian vanilla ice cream topped with freshly-flaked Mast Brothers’ chocolate. Yes, freshly-flaked. It’s also free (really) and given to you at the end of the meal, like a prize for finishing your steak.
Then you’ve got the carefully curated selection of wines, cocktails (a quick and easy list that includes a classic old fashioned and a passion fruit Collins) and craft beers complementing those highly-marbled Flat Iron steaks. Those are served on chopping boards with your own personal mini-cleaver (alongside sauces and sides like dripping cooked chips, creamed spinach and market greens) and presented before you by a friendly and knowledgeable group who many people refer to as “waiters”.
But technically, they’re steakholders.
NOTE Flat Iron Covent Garden is open for lunch and dinner all week long. For more information or to book visit their website HERE.
Flat Iron Covent Garden | 17-18 Henrietta Street, WC2E 8QH
Like being in the know? Check out our guide to the most underrated steak restaurants in London.