On Michael’s actual birthday, I treated him to a meal fit for a man.

Steak & chips, obviously.

Goodman is often proclaimed to be the best steakhouse in London.

Having previously eaten at Gaucho, Hawksmoor and M (and with an upcoming reservation at MASH), I thought it would be the perfect opportunity for Michael & I to decide for ourselves where we thought Goodman fitted into the mix.

Considering it was a Monday evening, the restaurant was impressively packed full of merry suits, sipping on cocktails and tucking in to steak suppers.

Thankfully we’d both come straight from work, so managed to blend in with the crowd unnoticed.

Goodman is very traditional in décor, with dark wood features, deep-red cushioned banquets and B&W pictures.

But it also has modern (manly) touches, such as the exposed pipe ceiling, industrial steel low-hanging lights, and metal grates separating diners.

We had two glasses of celebratory bubbly to get the party started (‘NV Prosecco, Giavi, Extra Brut, Italy’ (£10.00 each)) whilst perusing the menu.

With minds almost made up, our waiter brought out the big guns and placed a mammoth blackboard displaying all of the additional cuts of beef that we could choose from beside us.

Flummoxed by all the meat, we focused on our starters, both opting for the tiger prawn tempura, avocado, Cajun mayonnaise (£12.00 each).

Beautifully presented, and even more delicious.

The tempura was light & airy; the prawns a generous size & well-cooked; the smooth avocado added both freshness & creaminess; and the Cajun mayo introduced a hint of spice.

It was a superb plate of food.

Although I found it more akin to rock shrimp tempura, such as is served at Buddakan, Sushi Samba and Roka, versus tiger prawn tempura, also served at Roka and Eight over Eight, it was a fantastic dish, and as good my favourite variations of this dish served elsewhere.

In need of a good bottle of red to accompany our meat, we ordered ‘Dona Paula Estate, Malbec, 2013’ (£35.00), which is a wine that both Michael & I (and my parents) love.

On our waiter’s recommendation, we chose the 850g Hereford porterhouse T-bone (£59.50), providing both rib-eye and sirloin steak, to share.

And then arrived the sides, glorious sides.

We had truffle chips, sea salt (£5.00).

Spinach, creamed with gruyere cheese (£4.50).

Mushrooms with garlic butter (£5.00).

And a selection of all 3 sauces; béarnaise, pepper and mushroom.

Words cannot describe how good this plate of food was. I don’t think I’ve ever had steak quite like it. It really was unbelievably tender & so very tasty.

The sides were all perfect.

And the béarnaise sauce? Well, it was the best I’ve ever had.

So there, I think you can decipher what our conclusion on the steak war was.

With me failing to make Michael a (chocolate, obviously) birthday cake for the first of his birthday’s that we’ve spent together yet (I forgive myself on the basis of the surprise party at Radio Rooftop Bar, and that I now actually have a job), it’s safe to say that I was relying on the dessert menu to come through strong.

And that it did.

Two orders of the Goodman City choc chip brownie ice-cream sundae (£8.00) later, I was sat next to an extremely happy Quarter Century old man.

Although I’m not personally a big fan of chocolate ice-cream – I know, even I find it shocking, the chocolate chips, brownie pieces and caramel sauce did make it pretty epic.

Plus, it was the birthday’s boy’s absolute DREAM dessert; he went just as crazy for it as I did the dulce fondant that we had at M for his ‘pre-birthday dinner’, so I couldn’t really have asked for much more.

The total bill was £181.13, which I thought was very reasonable taking all things into consideration.

It’s also cheaper than Gaucho, Hawksmoor and M, AND Michael’s dessert was on the house, which makes me love Goodman even more.

MASH better be good, sa’ll I’m sayin’.

10/10