The Old Bank Steak & Ribs

Restaurant

The Old Bank Steak & Ribs
120 St George's Road,
Kemptown Village,
Brighton,
East Sussex
BN1 1EA

Tel: 01273 682200

Website The Old Bank Steak & Ribs

Overview

Last Friday evening Eva and I decided to walk to Kemptown village, to try out The Old Bank Steak & Ribs restaurant that is housed in the old Barclays bank building.

As the name implies, the restaurant specialises in steaks (all aged 28 days) and ribs.

Ambience

The restaurant is a large cheerful, bright, lively, unfussily decorated establishment with tables and booths and an open view of the kitchen.

Menu

The menu offers a good selection of steaks, ribs, chicken and burgers. There is also a smattering of daily fish specials.

Service

When we arrived, at around 8:45, as we hadn't booked we were told that it may well be an hour before we could be seated. Given that we had walked for all of 15 minutes we decided that we would wait, rather than give up at that juncture, and were advised to take a drink in the pub opposite and wait for the restaurant to call my mobile when the table was ready.

We were very impressed and pleased to receive a call within 15 minutes, at 9:00, to tell us that we could come on over!

The welcome and service was excellent, efficient and friendly.

Owing to a misunderstanding/miscommunication with the kitchen my steak came basted in barbecue sauce. I do not actually like barbecue sauce that much, and prefer my meat unfettered. However, our waitress was extremely apologetic and offered without any hesitation to replace the steak. Given that the offer was made without any fuss, and that the food was not inedible and would have resulted in a steak going to waste I declined. The offer made to replace the steak was ample demonstration of good customer service.

Food

I started with the wholetail scampi served with tartare sauce. These were very decent, and decidedly more chunky/meaty than some other establishments serve.

I opted for the rib eye steak for my main course. Not withstanding the barbecue sauce issue (see above) the meat was very tender, tasty and had been cooked medium as requested.

The steak came with chunky chips, which were good. I also ordered onion rings (which were very good, crispy and not greasy) and a dish of green beans fried with garlic and tomato (which was not particularly inspiring, ie bland).

I would recommend that, as this is a steakhouse, side dishes of grilled beef tomato and grilled flat cap mushrooms also be offered (as they are both great accompaniments to steak).

Eva started with the spicy chicken wings. These were very good, both in terms of taste/spiciness and quantity. They came with a first class blue cheese dip.

Eva then opted for a half rack of ribs as a main course. She was delighted with them as they were particularly tasty and succulent, and they came with a most unctuous baked potato.

The meal, which included a decent bottle of champagne, came to £67 including 10% service.

Overall Opinion

A very enjoyable meal, and I am happy to recommend this venue. However, if you don't like barbecue sauce make sure that you state that when placing the order; as the "basting" comes a standard.

We will return, but I will next time ensure my meat is not basted.

Exploding Watermelons

I am gemused to read of problems in China wrt exploding watermelons.

Seemingly, as a result of using certain chemicals to promote faster growth, there has been a spate of exploding watermelons in China's eastern Jiangsu province.

The affected watermelons begin to split near the top, and within minutes burst open to reveal a jaundiced yellowish-pink flesh. In one Jiangsu town, a watermelon exploded as an elderly woman was cutting it open.

Unsurprisngly the chemicals used aren't terribly good for the human digestive system either!

Pop Up in The Eye

The world's first six Michelin star restaurant in the sky will "pop up" in the London Eye for four days, during the London Restaurant Festival in October.

The cost of dining in the Eye will be £15K per ten person capsule.

Pre dinner drinks will be served at The Savoy, followed by a boat journey to the Eye.

Post dinner accommodation in the Savoy is also included in the price.

Gordon Ramasy Eats Beating Snake Heart

Gordon Ramsay has managed to offend a few people, nothing new there, by eating the beating heart of a cobra on TV.

The stunt was pulled in Vietnam, where eating snakes (live ones) is deemed to enhance male virility.