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For the past five years, The Butcher Shop and GRILL has attracted meat-lovers from across the kingdom to feast on its tender juicy steaks, slow roasted prime ribs and lip-smacking starters.
The South African steakhouse chain located in Bahrain City Centre became such a popular destination for carnivores like my husband Sam and I, that it has recently expanded its menu adding more flavours and bites for diners to enjoy.
The friendly shop manager, Tarek Khoury, who knows his way around a steak, said: “Our previous menu was more focused on meat and only had a small selection for people with other tastes.
“On the new menu, we have a wider selection for chicken, seafood and lamb-lovers combined. We also offer plenty of sides such as Quinoa, mashed potato, loaded potato and pumpkin.
“We aim to appeal to the entire market. For example, we can cater to teenagers with meals such as burgers and chicken scallops or target the higher-end diner who has more purchasing power with a mouthwatering Wagyu. Our prices vary, depending on the steak and cut from BD7 up to BD20.
“The best part about having a restaurant and butchery concept is that customers have the choice of the size of steak they want and how they want it cooked.
“I always tell our guests to tell us what they want, how they want it and we will do it. On the introductory page of our menu there is a saying: ‘The secret to having a great steak is buying a great steak’ and that is exactly what we offer.”
Not only do they serve up great cuts of South African meat but their secret is that it’s been aged first, which according to Mr Khoury, is a natural way to tenderise it.
Once the meat has been tenderised, it’s up to chef Ryan Quichon and his team of experts to create delectable dishes for the servers to present to hungry patrons in a lounge atmosphere.
The steakhouse, which is under Azadea Group, is truly a carnivore’s haven featuring comfortable seating for those long feasts, shiny steak knives that can cut through anything and a butchery displaying a wide selection of meat to choose from to be eaten on the spot or to be taken home.
Nearby, the butchery hangs a giant poster showing the different cuts of a cow, to help guests find what they are looking for. The servers and Mr Khoury are also always around to make recommendations for indecisive guests such as myself.
While I love variety, it also makes it difficult to choose from when everything sounds so good.
Luckily, Sam and I had Mr Khoury by our side regaling us with entertaining stories while we gobbled up the scrumptious fare that was prepared for us.
As we waited for our meals to arrive, Morgan, our courteous server brought over a cutting board with bread, feta cheese with Biltong meat, a hummus dip and butter to nibble on along with Boerwors sausage in a South African Shashlik sauce.
After devouring everything in sight, the BD2 chicken Coxinha appeared. This is a Brazilian street food which was adjusted to appeal to the local market’s taste. It is deep fried chicken with a special filling served with an orange aioli mayonnaise which I refer to as heavenly with every bite. The flavours were rich and creamy. Next was the salt and pepper calamari which we couldn’t get enough of at BD2.900. I was impressed that it had tickled Sam’s taste buds even though he isn’t much of a seafood guy.
The pièce de résistance was the Beef Espetada at BD11.500. This best-seller is a South African speciality made up of 400 grams of meat hanging on a skewer marinated with their own mix, grilled to the customer’s perfection and topped with a cap of garlic butter which drips onto the beef. There is also a plate of cubed potatoes, onion and garlic under the skewer to capture all the juices.
As Sam tucked into the beef I opted for a lighter dish, the chicken Florentine topped with creamy spinach and melted cheese. At BD4.900, the chicken escalope was breaded to a golden crisp offering the right crunch-to-cream factor for that ‘Oh my goodness’ flavour.
For the side dishes we had mashed potatoes and savoury onion rings made out of real onion. After our bellies were full and we could not take another bite, Mr Khoury tempted us to sample a piece of the beef ribs which literally melted right off the bone.
Not only were we spoilt for choice and stuffed, but we were also ready for a nap, because a meal like that will surely send you on a good old-fashioned food coma. I was just glad to be able to make it to the car.
For details, contact 17172323 or visit www.thebutchershop-me.com.
