We are seriously trying to cut down on the amount of meat we consume this year, so a steak is going to be rare treat if all goes according to plan. And when we do indulge we’re going to make sure it’s a good as you can get. Now you can keep your Wagyu – for us, it doesn’t really get better than Galician beef from Northern Spain. Marylebone’s Lurra is one of the best restaurants in London to get the stuff, and now they are doing an excellent at home box too.
Galician beef comes from old grass-fed dairy cows that live between 12 and 16 years – for comparison, most beef you eat will come from an animal that’s only lived a couple of years. It’s not hard to see that that makes a huge difference to the flavour of the meat, with crazy fat marbling and unique flavour.
A Galician blonde rib eye steak is the centrepiece of Lurra’s £120 meal box, which will happily feed three people. Or if there’s just two of you, we can recommend having all the starters for lunch and then the steak and sides for dinner. For your starters (or lunch) then you’ll be tucking in to beautiful slices of Jamon Iberico de Bellota; marinated anchovies; padron peppers; Fresh baguette; and octopus with pequillo puree. Octopus is a bit of a love it or hate it dish but if you’re a fan there’s no doubting the quality of this one.
Then there’s the main event, that incredible steak, which you’ll want to cook for just a few minutes each site and season with just a bit of salt. It’s a bit of a cliche to describe a steak as being soft like butter but it really is apt here, not only for the texture, but the flavour too, which is rich and buttery from the incredible fat marbling. Alongside the steak you’ll also get Jersey royal potatoes with chorizo & aioli, and pickled courgettes. Then to finish, there is a phenomenally good Basque-style cheesecake.
The Lurra box is on the more expensive end of the meal box scale but it really is worth it.