Flat Iron Preview

For those who've not had their finger on the pulse lately; Flat Iron have finally landed in Manchester with a bang!   With 13 branches in London and another couple dotted about the country, Flat Iron are the famously great value yet good quality steak house, serving a focused menu with a real emphasis on delivering the best possible product at a price point which defies any sense at all.

Flat Iron have their own herd based over in Yorkshire, which is a huge factor in being able to being you an inflation flouting experience, along with having tight controls over quality.     It all sounded great, so the team were invited down to see first-hand.

On arrival your table is given some of Flat Iron's trademark beef fat popcorn to share, which felt only right to pair with some pre dinner drinks.

We went with Sherbert Bellini (£8) to get the party started.  It was Summer in a glass, with vibrant zesty notes, perfectly in keeping with the surprise sunshine outside.  This was a tipple which exceeded expectations.

Next was the Classic Old Fashioned (£8), which did exactly what the tin suggested. It was well made, generous in pour and was crucially, very well balanced.  Served in a mini flask to self-pour over a perfectly transparent ice cube, which had been hand cut at the bar.  Outrageous levels of detail for eight quid! 

Our last aperitif was a coupe of what the menu called 'Apply' French Bubbles (£7.5), which I'm pretty sure was Crémant.  Fresh, zingy, delicious and more outstanding value.

But steak is what Flat Iron is all about, and we were keen to try as many as possible so opted to try 3 different steaks from the menu;

The Flat Iron Steak (£14) headlines, as you'd expect.  It's a lesser-known cut which you seldom see on UK high streets amidst our national obsession with fillet, sirloin and rump, but the flat iron is incredibly tender and flavoursome, taken from the shoulder section of the animal.  This was perfectly cooked, pre sliced, served simply but deliciously.

Our next cut was the Scottish Bavette (£17); a French bistro classic but again not one which you see apart from in speciality butchers in the UK.  Slightly less tender than the ubiquitous flat iron, but arguably a more robust flavour.  It's without question one of my favourite cuts out there.

And finally, it was amazing to see Wagyu featured breed at Flat Iron, and the menu contains a rotating cut from said beast.  On this occasion it was the Denver Cut (£22), which was full of marbled fat, resulting in a juicy, rich steak.  A little taste of luxury and a pleasure to see a once impossible to source cut of beef on the menu.

Sides were similarly high quality, with the stars of the show being the Homemade Beef Dripping Chips (£4) and a decadent Truffled Macaroni Cheese (£5.50).  Crispy Bone Marrow Garlic Mash (£4), Green Salad (£3.50).

Natoora Vesuvian Tomatoes (£4.50), from the specials board, were a revelation and probably the stand-out side.  Chopped into large chunks and served simply, this was a textbook display of how good tomatoes can be, needing very little other than some salt and a bit of time to infuse.

A special mention goes to the service which we received.  Now sure, when you're press, servers tend to be super attentive and polite, often more so than they usually would be.  But time teaches you to tell the difference between the two.  And at Flat Iron we were looked after by the lovely Freya, who apparantely works behind the bar most of the time.  But we say that her true calling is talking to customers and making people smile, and she certainly did that for us.

We headed off feeling satisfied, but not before exchanging our meat cleaver tokens for a soft serve cone each, in this case a Tahitian Vanilla and Brown butter version, dusted with chocolate; another Flat Iron trademark.

So our long anticipated dinner drew to a close having more than met what we hoped it would be.  Flat Iron would be as ideally suited to a quality lunch, as it would a pre theatre dinner, or just dinner in general.  It's got huge appeal and seems well suited to the Manchester market, striking that perfect balance of occasion, value, quality and versatility.  We are sure that it will prove to be a hit!

** Our experience was gratefully comped **