Kyloe: Food that is ridiculously good looking.

For a leisurely ladies lunch today Miss K suggested Kyloe, I had been there before for dinner and it took almost no convincing for me to agree to go again. Miss K, Miss L and I met out the front and headed in.

They have a lunch special of 2 courses for £10, which is incredible value!

We arrived without a reservation at 1, and were shown to a table.

The decor is just as warm and welcoming as I remember and the views are even prettier in the daytime.

We studied the Two for Ten menu but were all tempted back to the a la carte , for big manly steaks.

As lunching ladies do, we chatted and chatted, and I must give full compliments to the very patient waitress for kindly waiting for us as we took our time to make our drink and lunch choices.

Cranberry Juice with fresh lime... it was a booze-free lunch today

Eventually, I decided on the Oysters, au naturalle, K went for the Duck Rilettes and L the Ceviche of Sea Bream.

The oysters were super fresh, and were... pretty big, kinda. Oh I've been far to spoilt with oysters in my life, I won't lie, if they are any smaller than a man-sized thumb I get a little disappointed. The flavour however was lovely. Served with half a lemon and red wine shallot vinegar. I tried some of the vinegar but it wasn't to my liking so I stuck to my usual, cracked black pepper and lemon juice.

L said her cerviche (marinated fish) salad was very refreshing, and K offered me some of her duck rillette, which is kind of like a more-textured pate... a little... and we both found it very delicious. The wait staff were more than happy to bring more toasted bread to finish it off.

Our very meaty steak lunch: For me 45day aged Rump 400gm (all steaks came with standard sides of roasted tomatoes and leaf salad) done rare with bearnaise sauce, skirley mash and onion rings. The girls also had steaks, K done 'very blue' and L medium rare; sauces of peppercorn and bearnaise respectively, with shoestring fries for both and creamed spinach for K.

We all ordered the beef dripping chips. I especially was looking forward to giving them another try, but we were informed they were all out. This was very disappointing for all of us.

 What a stunning plate. These colours are fantastic. I think the meat was a perfect size (for me) the salad and tomatoes were a nice albeit different side. But I don't think there was anywhere near enough sauce for the £2 price tag. I guesstimate there was around 50mL of sauce in total. Fortunately, my mash was very creamy, so I didn't miss the lashings of sauce I'm used to- too much.

 For me, this is a perfect rare. As I have learned more about the preparing and cooking of steak I have lost all of my preconceptions regarding 'puddles of blood' on the plate, I now know that with a good resting all of those juices stay in the meat which makes for a juicer piece of meat.

There were 3 big chunks of in-edible fat in my steak. I never know how to feel about this. I know the benefits that fat offers a cut of meat, but I suppose it all ends in... 'but I want to eat ALL of it'.

 These little devils were the star of the show.  More like a crispy donut than an onion ring, the batter was so very light, with a shattering crunch which almost lead me to squeal with excitement. Definately made up for the lack of dripping chips.

I really do like this restaurant. I think the service is spot on, the atmosphere is the perfect balance of comfortable steak house and top class restaurant, I would feel as comfortable in ripped jeans and sneakers as I would a formal gown. The food on both occasions had been pure class.

 I must say, I am really happy that I've found a place so close to home that just makes me feel so confident of a great steak, a great meal, really an occasion- not just a feed.