The architecture of the steak menu is changing.
Hideously expensive fillet and boned sirloin traditionally used to sit at the top of the UK hierarchy because British diners like, or have been encouraged to like, lean, boneless muscle cuts. We swallowed the public health mantra that fat was the devil incarnate, so these became the "healthy" choice. And to a squeamish nation reluctant to look in the eye the visceral aspects of meat, fillet or sirloin has fewer potentially troubling connections with dead animals.
Down in Latin America, meanwhile, rump steak has always been preferred for its superior flavour. In the steak houses of Buenos Aires, the picanha steak – what butchers here call the cap or point of the rump – is the steak cut of preference for discerning diners. Of late, rib-eye steak has become a bit trendier in Britain, mainly because it's that little bit cheaper.
In France, a nation with a long and purposeful history of using up every little last bit of a carcass in inventive ways, more attention has been paid to the cheaper "secondary" cuts, such as onglet (hangar steak/skirt), bavette (goose skirt) and feather steak (paleron). The popularity of these as steak cuts isn't just down to price. In taste terms, they can beat fillet and sirloin hands down, providing they are cooked as they ought to be, that is, very briefly, otherwise they can be a bit of a chew.
Kyloe in Edinburgh describes itself as a steak restaurant and grill. Given its desirable location on Princes Street and its ability to pull in the crowds, this might sound like a well-trodden, predictable formula. With its glitzy Hello! magazine decor, you might take it as a place for drawing in budget airline tourists and the rugby crowds, with food quality on the back burner. But Kyloe makes an impressive job of reinventing the tired old steakhouse concept to fit a changed 21st century landscape, while still addressing a popular, non-exclusive audience.
The beef is all Aberdeen Angus Scottish from the Borders, 100% grass-fed (better for health and the environment) and hung for a minimum of 28 days. There's a 45-day aged rump for those who crave both flavour and melting tenderness. Provenance is matched by expert cooking. The reasonably priced and interesting steak board of forgotten cuts – bavette, paleron, onglet – is definitive evidence of how wonderful these can be as steaks rather than stews. With a side order of bone marrow, creamed horseradish and truly fantastic chips cooked in beef dripping it might even make me a steak convert.
Meat apart, the cooking, as one has come to expect of chef David Haetzman, is sound. Ceviche of sea bream, chilli, pink grapefruit, pickled fennel, pomegranate and coriander was quite definitely the most exquisite fishy dish I have eaten this year. A tart of warm fondant onions and crumbly, sharp Grimbister cheese with truffle felt as comforting and classy as cashmere. Its friable pastry flagged up the self-evident skill of pastry chef Amanda Jordan, whose refined dessert offerings proved to be a pleasure. She fielded a stunning blood orange tart with tremulous curd and biscuity pastry, flanked by a humid lemon drizzle cake and zesty mandarin sorbet. Her Valrhona milk chocolate tart was a stunner too, all caressing and velvety in its ready-to-shatter crust. The accompanying salted caramel parfait and stiff vanilla bean mascarpone simply layered delight upon delight.
One dish – roast chicken – was mildly disappointing. It was mainly breast, mainly boned and with gravy, stuffing and mash, a bit too close for comfort to a boring Christmas offering. If Kyloe applied the same iconoclastic thinking to its poultry as it has to its beef, then it could be much more exciting. A half chicken, on the bone, perhaps flattened out spatchcock-style and char-grilled or briefly roasted, served with those great chips, or sauteed potatoes ... now, that could be fantastic. Haetzman has already reworked the burger riff, serving three sliders: venison and red-currant, wild boar and apple, and Aberdeen Angus fillet with smoked cheddar. With some creative input, and decent free-range or organic birds, poultry suggests itself for similar treatment.
Kyloe
Rutland Hotel, Princes Street, Edinburgh 0131 229 3402
Lunch/dinner £20-60
Food rating 9/10
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