Push your way through the throng of tourists down in Piccadilly on a Sunday lunchtime and while the rest of the hordes pop into an Angus steakhouse, congratulate yourself for having booked lunch at Chop Shop.
Situated right in the tourist heartland, Chop Shop's been open now since September and has just started doing Chop Shop Rib Chop Sundays - try saying that when you've got a hangover. Hangover or no, this deal is an officially good way to spend your Sunday lunch.
The deal in essence is one of the restaurant's signature beef rib chop (usually £26) with half a bottle of any red wine from the wine list, along with roast potatoes and a choice of sides for just £35. There were four bottles on our menu - and we plumped for a Gnarly Head Old Vine Zinfandel from the States, which (when we checked it later on the normal a-la-carte) costs £35 anyway, making our particular lunch a real steal.
As you'd hope (and expect) the rib chops were excellent and cooked just as we'd ordered. The roasties - always a real test that few restaurants manage to pass with flying colours - were fluffy and crispy and honestly almost as good as we'd make ourselves. The dish came with a pot of good, rich gravy and we tried all three of the sides on offer between us - a well-dressed green salad, spouts with bacon and sage (which could have done with a spot more cooking) and creamed spinach. If we had a niggle it was that the kitchen tended to have an over-generous hand with the salt.
Desserts aren't included in the deal, but as we were here we were prompted to try the butterscotch custard with salted caramel, chantilly cream and crushed shortbread cookies (£5). Happily after all we'd eaten, it was served in a pretty shortish glass, but it still meant we had to spend the rest of the day flopped on the sofa reading the Sundays. Which, as these things go, is a pretty good way to spend a Sunday.
Chop Shop Rib Chop Sundays is at Chop Shop, 66 Haymarket, London SW1Y 4RF. See our page on Chop Shop for booking information.
