I like my meat.
No, that’s not a euphemism.
Though I do love veggies, having been brought up with a family allotment, the thought of a good steak, or a roast dinner, or a tasty sausage makes my mouth water. Which is a good job really – for Fazenda is mostly meaty goodness.
Taking advantage of a long awaited week off and long weekend for Mr GFB, we popped in for lunch (in exchange for him missing out on lunch at Manchester House), post gym session for me, post lie-in in bed for him.
The venue is all chic black and gold, with a sheltered outside if you prefer the sunshine, whilst inside offers black shelving, lots of wood, leather and tiling.
And I was glad to see big glasses for the wine. After a slew of weights related personal bests, I’d earned it.
As with any Gauch style restaurant, ordering is easy. Once you’re seated, and you’ve selected your wine (red please), you can head up to the buffet to select your salad, and vegetables – and there’s a good selection of sushi, cheeses and other vegetarian friendly nibbles. For those accompanying meat lovers but not so fond themselves, there’s also a vegetarian menu – so long as you can obviously stand the sight and smell of fresh cooked meat.
When you’re ready, and after you’ve had fresh skin on chips served at your table, you flip your little circular card over from red to green and the meat feast can begin.
Passadores circulate around the room, with meat fresh from the charcoal on long poles, and carve it at your table. This not only gives you the chance to see how fresh it is (and how tender), but also means you can select how pink you have it. You could choose, like the lady across the restaurant to have it well done, or as I did, with meat this fresh, tender and delicious, as pink as possible please.
Luckily the passadore serving us, was only too happy to oblige.
My steak knife wasn’t really required, with meat this deliciously soft and buttery.
Though the minted lamb was done a little less pink than I’d like, it hadn’t suffered, it was still melt in the mouth.
The marinaded pork was lovely, sweet and sticky, whereas the gammon and pineapple…
… Was even more mouthwatering than the lamb.
We switched between red and green on our circular tabs, trying to pace ourselves over the time we were there. Our meat chef almost seemed disappointed when we turned the tab to red, stating at one point when I eyed a particularly pink piece of beef that this ‘is how it’s supposed to be served’.
Finally, somehow we were almost full to bursting. And, though a food coma beckoned, much like the one after Christmas dinner, we still managed to find room for dessert. Even I’m still unsure how.
Being sensible, Mr GFB opted for a trio of ice creams – dark chocolate, vanilla and the toffee delight of dulce de leche.
Still possibly on a post training high, I was distinctly less well behaved. Caipirinha cheesecake beckoned – just the sharpness I needed to cut through the meat coma ahead. Lime and cachaça cheesecake, with biscuit crumble, a caipirinha coulis, and topped at the table with freshly grated lime zest.
Just the awakening my brain needed – though perhaps on top of all that meat the portion was a little generous.
Overall, we rather loved Fazenda. With lunch from £17.30 and dinner from £28.30, you really do get value for money. The meats are delicious, beautifully cooked and the service was excellent – I really loved the ability to select how well done you wanted your meat, and not feel judged for wanting it more or less pink. Customers choice.
Until next time.
The meal and accompanying wine were paid for by ourselves.