Strip Bar and Steak is located in the basement of the Malmaison Hotel in the charming Charterhouse Square. Our visit was on a Friday night, and coincided with the resident DJ, who provided some beats to enjoy throughout the evening.
We started our evening with a couple of pre-dinner cocktails in the bar, including a ‘Clover Club’ - a blend of gin, vermouth, raspberry lemon and egg white - and a ‘Truth or Dare’, which is a vodka based cocktail with lemon, lychee, sage and absinthe. Despite what you might expect from the sound of these cocktails, disappointingly, they didn’t taste as though they contained much alcohol at all.
After the cocktails, we moved to our table in the restaurant and were pleased to be seated in a rather cool and secluded booth style table. The décor in the restaurant is very interesting and features a lot of neon lights. Once settled, we were soon greeted and introduced to the menus.
“... the interior décor and furnishings are cool”
We began our meal with a glass of Vueve Clicquot Rosè NV and made our choices. To start, we opted for the tuna tartare with Ahi tuna, avocado, and a soy and ginger dressing. We also went for the ‘Cocktail Sampler’, which included smaller versions of the prawn cocktail (with a classic sauce and iceberg lettuce), the shrimp cocktail (with a bloody mary sauce), and the lobster cocktail (with avocado and a citrus mayonnaise).
For our main courses, naturally we had the steak, which was USDA Black Angus NY strip steak. We opted for one 350g medium rare steak with blue cheese butter, and one 450g medium well plain steak.
To accompany our meal, we opted for a bottle of the 2011 Marlborough Pinot Noir.
Strip Bar and Steak does boast a very buzzy atmosphere, and the interior décor and furnishings are cool. However, unfortunately, we did think the restaurant fell short on their meat offerings, although, perhaps we visited on an off day. In any case, we’re not likely to hurry back; but if you like a good atmosphere for a drink, then it’s worth checking out.
The Bill: £47 per head
