Gaucho

All chains should be this good. Fact. Having supplied red meat and red wine to red faced business types for some years, Gaucho Grill is undergoing a reinvention. Its now just Gaucho and, as far as this funky branch goes, its lighter on the wood and leather gents club atmosphere of its predecessors and a lighter, brighter affair altogether. What wood there is houses the Argentinean wine list of which Gaucho is justifiably proud and the leather has been interspersed with glass and metal trimmings, Theres also a big open kitchen. It seems to work. While there were groups of noisy boys ostentatiously finishing smoking cigars, there were also more romantic couples than business diners. But how would the steakheavy Gaucho cope with a non meat eater? Er… really well, basically. As well as an excellent soup of the day plum tomato, served chilled and finished with butter and a great Peruvian Ceviche of merluza, tiger prawn and octopus, tossed in tomato and citrus juices, etc., theres a surprisingly good range of seafood. Admittedly pure vegetarians are stuffed vegetable side orders and mushroom pasta is about their only option but fish eaters are superbly catered for. Grilled seabass was also a knockout. Churrasco the cut fillet steak was as good as ever, and Cavas de Weinert Gran Vino a Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec, Merlot blend helped it all along. Yep. All chains should be this good.