OK so I missed the Friday Fringe at the May 2010 London Meet, but I did have a good excuse! Travelling always takes much longer in London than I expect, so when I realised it was almost 9 o'clock and I hadn't yet eaten, some decisive action was required. (Yes I know you sophisticated city types like to dine late – in Norn Irn we have our tea "about sex").

I was booked into Club Quarters, Gracechurch, which had got very good reviews on TripAdvisor and other hotel booking websites. And it certainly lived up to its high billing: the staff on the reception desk were able to procure a bottle of contact lens solution at midnight. And when I realised that I shouldn't have printed off my boarding pass on double sided paper¹, because then the tear off slip at the bottom contained both outgoing and return flight details, they directed me to a computer which was dedicated to printing out boarding passes. And did they have a restaurant? Certainly madam, why not try our Gaucho City Argentinean steak house in the basement. So I did.

Food

The menu was understandably very meat focussed. And indeed, in order to help us make our choice of cut over cocktails, the staff produced a board with samples of the various sizes and shapes of steaks we could have: rump, fillet, rib-eye, sirloin. Yes, we actually got to "meet the meat"! I tried explaining why this was so exciting to the waiter, who just smiled and nodded at me. We ordered our meals – rare fillet for me, and a rare cuadril for my companion. We must have taken about one sip of cocktail before the meat arrived. And it was beautifully, deliciously, meltingly, squishilly rare. My companion had a side salad to accompany her dead cow, while I went for the more intriguing Humitas, which turned out to be mushed up sweetcorn wrapped in something like banana leaf. The wine list featured a large range of Argentinean wines. 4/5

Atmosphere

Lots of dark wood and lush plants formed the décor, and the place was pretty full of happy looking diners. Some typical South American music was playing in the background, but not so loud that it made conversation difficult. The seats and part of the bar were covered in brindled cow hide, so they'd obviously not let anything go to waste.3/5

Service

The service was impeccable, from the waitress who helped me choose a cocktail from the long list, when I didn't fancy reading through the detailed ingredients of each and every one, to the maitre d' who was so bemused by my attempt to explain h2g2 and the restaurant at the end of the universe, to the receptioning staff who offered to order a taxi, and let us know when it arrived. 4/5

Overall

Now it wasn't cheap. One cocktail apiece, the steaks with sides, and a bottle of Pinot Noir all added up to over £80. But the staff were brilliantly attentive, and ordered a taxi for us when we'd done, to whisk us off to the George, only to find that the hootooers had already gone home. Faders!7/10

Our Man in Milliways
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Beatrice

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