Flat Iron to open third site with butcher and new beer
Steak group Flat Iron is to open its third and biggest restaurant to date, in London's Covent Garden on Henrietta Street, on 3 December.
The 4,435 sq ft, 180-cover site will offer the group's usual steak, plus a new beer and ice-cream dessert options.
When it comes to meat, the group looks to offer high-quality, lesser-used cuts, allowing the menu to maintain an average price point of £10. Butcher-in-residence Jordan Ling, who has previously worked at the Ginger Pig, Barbecoa and Fortnum & Mason, will provide a wide range of cuts butchered on the premises.
There will also be a gelato bar, which will serve hand-churned salt caramel ice-cream, with toppings such as flaked chocolate from chocolatiers the Mast Brothers, whose shop is on the same street as that of Flat Iron's original pop-up, which opened above a pub in 2012.
A major part of the offer will also feature the Yorkshire Beer, which has been developed in collaboration with craft brewery Copper Dragon.
From its namesake county, and claimed by the group to be one of the best, rare ‘Northern beers' available in London, the beer will be on display in the restaurant inside 14 glass-fronted oak barrels handmade by master cooper Alastair Simms, of the White Rose Cooperage, one of the few remaining coopers in the UK.
Décor-wise, the venue has been designed by New York-based studio AvroKO, whose founder Adam Farmerie has been cited as inspiration for Russell Norman's design of Polpo. The design team had a brief to maintain the same straightforward aesthetic of the other Flat Iron venues, while seeking to update it to a more handsome, crafted style alongside the incorporation of original elements of the 1891-constructed building.
Founded by Charlie Carroll, who describes himself as a "beef geek", the Flat Iron group now has permanent sites in Beak Street and Denmark Street.
Carroll said: "The Henrietta Street space is by far the largest we have worked with and has allowed us to consider features that we've always wanted but never had room for. AvroKO has blown us away with their vision, blurring the lines between front and back of house."
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