172. Pulperia.

 

  Despite all the additional South America stuff Pulperia is a very grand steak restaurant.The South American element elevates it above giving it a steakhouse label. But the question is why would you go there and eat anything other than steak?, it would be sacrilegious as well as being a missed opportunity. I like fish, I was sorely tempted to have the cod dish which sounded vaguely wondrous but as I say, how could I justify my presence in Pulperia and not have one of the various steaks on offer. So I did

  Before we get there, let’s just squeeze in a mention of the the delicious starter I wolfed down (as politely as one may wolf down anything). I thoroughly relished a generously sized dish of morcilla, caramelised onion and blood sausage (I try to be patriotic but this time must say that this sausage knocks English black pudding into a cocked hat) with some actually tasty tomatoes (this has not been a good year for being served tasty tomatoes in British restaurants I have found) and charred cucumber. Rustic, brash, unendingly pleasurable.

  I chose the Herefordshire rump. I turned down any sauces but accepted the accompanying chips, sorry, fries. It is not surprising to say that the steak was cooked precisely to my requirements, seasoned absolutely perfectly and pleasingly tender and full of flavour. One of the things that happens to me when I’m three quarters of a way through a steak is that I become bored. This did not happen on this particular evening. A request to chef - please go out into this world and teach everyone how to produce chips of the calibre I ate this evening. The world would be a better place if you could arrange to do that. This meal showed how simplicity, executed brilliantly, can produce a meal more extraordinary than much of what is being served up at restaurant tables in this modern age. I didn’t mourn the absence of violet flowers or nasturtiums scattered over the plate. Simply fine. I washed it down with a good glass of Malbec.

  I rounded off with nothing more than the ice cream - warning - don’t choose to have the lemon sorbet with the caramel ice cream (I knew it was mad when I ordered it but no, I just couldn’t help myself). You do not need to see a photograph of three small scoops of ice cream in a bowl, they look just as you would imagine.

  It’s an exciting restaurant. It’s an interesting restaurant. It’s not a great restaurant but it is at the top of its class and I would be very happy to return one day.

See also Blog 86.