Palm London

Saturday night's dinner at the new Palm in London proved a great success. I will admit to a bit of scepticism before we arrived, and remained unconvinced that the New York steakhouse experience would travel well across the ocean. On that count, I was assuredly (and happily) wrong.

Although nothing can re-create the original (nor should it try), the space felt like a steakhouse should feel, despite the fresh paint and newly polished wood floors. Perhaps in eighty years it may even come to resemble Second Avenue - the ingredients are there.

Most importantly, the steak was the real thing and equal in taste to that served in the US. The prices are staggering, £69 for an 18 oz. New York strip (I expect that's somewhat due to importing the meat), but well worth it. The 14 oz. is more reasonably priced (relatively) at £49, and normally I think this should be big enough to satisfy my appetite.

The slightly scaled-down menu includes USDA Prime American beef (NY strips and filet mignon only), British beef and lamb, Nova Scotia lobsters, fish and many of the traditional Palm side dishes and appetisers. Fried onions and cottage fries were identical to those served in New York and the creamed spinach was very good, but slightly different (I think it had cheese in it). The authentic New York cheesecake and Chocolate fondant deserts provided a fitting finish to a superb meal.

I thoroughly enjoyed my dinner at the Palm. Best of all, now I do not need to wait until I travel to America to get the authentic New York steakhouse experience. I cannot wait to go back, but first I need to make some more money!