El Gaucho restaurant review

York has a ridiculously large number of places where one can eat well, but none serving food quite like that of Walmgate's El Gaucho. A gaucho is essentially the Argentine version of a cowboy, and as you tuck into one of this restaurant's succulent steaks, you too will be made to feel just as manly as someone resting by the campfire after a hard day's cattle herding on the Argentine pampa.

If you haven't guessed by now, El Gaucho is an Argentine steak house. Steak is what they do, and by god do they do it well. My personal recommendation is the parillada mixta or mixed grill, which includes a little bit of each kind of steak they do, plus some chorizo, all tantalisingly seasoned with authentic chimichurri sauce and served with chunky chips and roasted veg. However, the other dishes they offer look equally fantastic, and if the standard of those dishes is the same as the mixed grill, then they more than match the quality of the dishes served in their native country.

I have been to Argentina several times and eaten plenty of steak there, and take it from me, the food on offer at El Gaucho is the genuine article. The beef is all imported from Argentina, the country with the highest beef consumption per person, a place where the cows are kept in a more natural way, living in fields and eating grass rather than the artificial soya-based feeds we give to a lot of our cows. This gives Argentina some of the best beef around, and the words “Argentine beef” are held in high esteem the world over. Quality like this does of course come at a price, this price namely being in the region of £15 or more for a dish, so it is probably best to save trips here for special occasions or for when your parents visit and take you out for a meal (having an Argentine mother, you can imagine I didn't need to do a lot of convincing to get us to go there.)

Aside from the steak, the menu's sides, starters and puddings are very tasty, if a little overpriced. Authentic Argentine desserts such as a pancake with dulce de leche as well as Argentina's most famous beer, Quilmes, accompany a meal as splendidly as the rustic décor does, with images of famous gauchos on the wall along with a somewhat disconcerting diagram explaining which cuts of meat come from which part of the cow. In addition to all this, diners at El Gaucho can partake of another of Argentina's best exports, wine. Being a student I of course went for the cheapest bottle of red available, but this was still phenomenally better than the Costcutter anti-freeze most students will glug down. The prices increased somewhat sharply the further down the wine list I went, and in this writer's ignorant mind, that must mean they get better.

El Gaucho may be expensive, but this little pocket of South America in the North-east of England is somewhere every York student should try to visit at least once in their three years here. Unless you are a vegetarian of course.

www.elgauchoyork.co.uk

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