Full House – Exposed At Brooklyn Steakhouse

 
Clare Tollick, Exposed's resident foodie, is back from her visit to Kelham Island's Brooklyn Steakhouse Bar & Grill. Having tasted some of Brooklyn's incredible edibles, Clare has given us a low-down to sink our teeth into… 
 
Back in the 70’s going out for steak was all the rage and let’s face it, in a land before Heston, sushi or even an authentic Chinese restaurant, steak was probably the best you were gonna get. Sadly I was an 80’s child and in turn that meant that my childhood was plagued by the BSE scare. And as my mum’s a very cautious cook this scare meant that all beef products were banned from the house and I didn’t dare try steak until a few years after I’d left home. Now I probably eat it at least once a month; I know which cut I like and how I like it to be cooked (rib-eye, medium rare to rare if you’re offering).
 
Quite scarily Sheffield has suffered a bit of a steak crisis recently with two steak houses shutting up shop, but thankfully the drought only lasted a couple of months and now we have Tropeiro  in Leopold Square, La Vaca in Broomhill and Brooklyn Steakhouse Bar & Grill down in Kelham Island. On hearing that the chef at the Great Gatsby was leaving to move down to Brooklyn and having previously enjoyed his burgers in the bar, I was keen to give this new addition to Kelham Island a go, especially as I knew that the head chef is well respected in Sheffield (he owned the Master Chef deli and café in Totley).
 

 
So on one quiet night between Christmas and New Year we headed down to Kelham Island to give the newbie a try and although it had been quiet in town, it wasn’t in Brooklyn. There were parties of 6/8 sitting down for dinner and with everyone dressed to celebrate we felt incredibly underdressed (we had planned on a night in the pub until we’d learnt that the pub’s kitchen had shut for the night), but we were warmly welcomed despite our scruffy appearances. 
 
We were seated opposite the open-view kitchen which was great for me; sod people watching, I like food watching. Seats were those big black leather high backed affairs and they were a little low for the table, but that’s my only criticism to the look and feel to the place which sports a contemporary black and red décor.
 
We decided to share a large Sicilian platter to start (£7.95) (although other options such as a mille foie of squash (£4) and garlic prawns with lemon aoli (£4) also sounded tempting). I do like a good platter, I like to pick and mix my food and share with others and this was one good platter. Firstly there was plenty of food, secondly all the food was good. There were slices of salami, soft cheese drizzled with handmade pesto, olives and delightful handmade tomato and mushroom focaccia. For me the highlight was a pan of chunks of roasted chorizo served with a super-rich tomato sauce which had a good level smoky heat to it.
 
Moving onto mains and I went for the Brooklyn House Beef Burger (£9.50). The burger was a decent size with the patty filling the whole bun which was light in texture but sturdy enough to cope with the meat and toppings of melted Monterey Jack cheese and streaky bacon very well. The burger was moist and tasty, but it was probably the sides that really did it for me. I’m a sucker for an onion ring and this was crispy, with a good amount of batter coating which had the right level of greasiness (all onion rings have to be a little greasy don’t they?!). Chips were another treat. They were proper chips; none of this rectangular cut, triple fried malarkey. They were more like wedges and they’d been fried to crisp perfection which held throughout the meal. It can be so difficult to find chips that have both flavour and a good crisp, but Brooklyn has certainly managed it.
 
The husband went for my favourite, the rib-eye (£16.95) and, oh my, it was good. It was a decent size, perfectly cooked (the meat was tender and the fat running through had softened nicely) and it was very tasty. He chose sides of Harvard beetroot (pickled beetroot) and chilli butter. The chilli butter was served in an enormous portion and although I thought the flavour did compliment the steak, the husband would have preferred more heat. He also had a side of those amazing chips.
 
We shared a dessert of chocolate tart (£3.95, I think) which had a deep, rich chocolate flavour, but we felt that the pastry casing was a little too solid for us. All in all though we’d had a very pleasant meal and despite sharing a bottle of Nero d’Avola the bill came in at less than £60 which I think was perfectly reasonable given that both food and service had been spot on. We’ll be back!
 
You can check out the latest deals, menus and everything else going on at Brooklyn Steakhouse here.
 
Clare's Food Blog is sponsored by Nonnas Cucina. Get 50% off Nonnas Pizza every Wednesday when you quote Exposed!  www.nonnas.co.uk/pizza