Garufa’s, 104 Highbury Park, London N5 2XE
Last Friday I was down in Highbury, part of my job involves onsite customer visits and I was working a lovely couple in their home, this job took most of the day but since my train ticket was off peak only I had some time to kill after the job had been completed so decided I’d go get a bite to eat and have a couple of beers bef...ore making my way back to sunny Bedford.
I asked the couple if there was anywhere they could recommend and they pointed me in the way of Garufa’s which was literally round the corner from their home.
Garufa’s is an Argentinian restraint and is very tastefully decorated, bare brick walls, classic black & white pictures of old Argentina, nice cosy lighting and (at the time) a very pleasant & peaceful atmosphere (although that may have been more to do with the fact that I was the only one in there at the time).
I’m looking at their menu online right now to see what I’d ordered but sadly the starter must have been new to the menu as it has yet to reach the online menu, anyway...
Starter:
Sweet Breads
I ordered this without knowing what it actually was and I have been told that it was testicles (it wasn’t but even if it had been I really wouldn’t have cared), it was in fact the thymus form the throat of a pig. Man! It was AMAZING!!! I cannot stress how frickin’ good it was, I’ve never tasted anything like it in my life.
The sweetbreads were cooked with lemongrass, garlic and olive oil. The taste is very hard to describe, there was the taste of pork but then there was a sweetness (I guess that’s how it gets its name, mind you “sweetbread” is more appealing than “Bits of pig throat”) to it but not a sickly sweetness. As I said hard to describe but if you ever see it on a menu I would just go for it (I’m actually drooling a little just thinking about them).
Main:
The reason I had come here was that my customer had said the steak was out of this world so the obvious choice for mains was steak. A really plump, juicy rib-eye cooked medium, it came with a side salad and I also ordered the “Papas fritas a la provenzal” (Chips with parsley & garlic to you and I chum!).
The steak was indeed “out of this world”, I have never had a steak as good as this before and I have eaten my fair share of cow over the years so I know where I’m coming from here.
Cooked to perfection, juicy but not greasy and so full of flavour, I also ordered a red pepper sauce to go with the steak which I thought was pretty damn good too!
The side salad was small but again, packed with flavour and came with a garlic oil dressing on the side.
Now on to the “Papas fritas a la provenzal”, these were chips but not like you’ve ever had before. Each “chip” was about the size and thickness of a fish finger, you got a good bowlful (just the right amount). They were incredible, really REALLY crispy on the outside and the fluffiest potato I have ever had in my life on the inside. They came drizzled in a parsley & garlic olive oil that also gave off the faintest hint of lemon. Simply wonderful indeed.
The service staff were excellent and friendly and I was obviously spoilt since I was the only person in there. Please though, do not take my solitude as any kind of indication that this place is at all failing in the quality department (I was in there between 5:45pm – 6:45pm). In fact most tables around me had reserved signs on and about 10 minutes before I was due to leave the place started to fill up.
All in all this was the start of a pretty perfect evening, belly full (and slightly tipsy) I waddled down to the tube station and got myself a ticket to St Pancras, the tube was waiting as I reached the platform (bonus!). One stop later and I was at St Pancras, I wondered on down to the next platform and within seconds of reaching the edge the train rolled up, got on board and it was virtually empty, plenty of nice plush seats with tables.
I grabbed myself a chair and settled in for my journey back to Bedford… I’d only got on the bloody SUPER FAST TRAIN (WOOOO HOOOOO). So, I rocketed back to Bedford, taxied back to Belly Manor, greeted Mrs Belly with a kiss and a cuddle then kicked back on the sofa and flicked on the tube…
Friday night at its best!
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