Steak 'N Art

The other day I was dragged to visit a couple of art galleries with a promise to go Goodman after. I am the first to admit that I know little about art. To be honest I have never been extremely interested in art in general. Surprisingly by the end of the day I realised I actually enjoyed myself. Anyway I am getting ahead of myself lets start at the first place we visited.

Gazzeli Art House was our first stop of the day. The exhibition was entitled 'Once Upon A Time'. The exhibition explored the blurred boundaries between reality and imagination.

My favourite pieces were by Vittorio Corsini. I really liked how he turned average household items into glass. The whole idea was that if you remove an items practical use it turns into any other ornament. For example if you remove the colour and smell from flowers they become just an ornament with no real purpose. Its just an empty vessel.

My favourite thing from the whole collection were the glass hearts. They were held in a mirrored cabinet filled with glass hearts. There were sensors in them so when people talked they lit up. The louder the conversation the more they lit up.

Once we had seen everything we headed out to Other Criteria wondering if everything we saw actually looked like that or were our eyes were deceiving us. I am not going to lie we forgot this thought really quickly as we walked past all the shops on new bond street. Can you blame me Chanel and Burberry can be very distracting?!

Other criteria is an arts based publishing company. I had always seen it from the outside in the other branch in Marylebone but I never realised it was co-founded by Damien Hirst. If you haven't heard of him, he is an english internationally renowned artist. Heres a crazy fact I heard when I was there. Apparently the diamond encrusted skull sculpture 'For The Love of God' was sold for $100 million. If that is not insane enough Damien Hirst still retains part ownership so he can control where it is shown. Anyway the gallery was filled with his iconic butterfly kaleidoscope and spot prints.

Other Criteria works directly with many other artists. Harland Miller's and Tom Ormond work were showcased in this gallery. You can see all the publications in this company on their website. Its really fun to just flick through it.

Tom Ormond

Harland Miller

You don't have to spend thousands of pounds on something from Other Criteria. They have various books and other items such as crockery. I think its a good place for unique gifts. You should look at their website. I've got my eye on the Damien Hirst ABC Book which is being released in October.

By this time we were starving so it was time to leave and hop on over to Goodman. Now if you haven't heard of this place where have you been?! Its one of the best places in London for steak. I love this place because it makes me feel like I am in a proper New York steakhouse. I love the dark wood panelling and leather booths. I like to call this place 'The Man Cave'. Its owned by the same people who own Burger and Lobster (Another favourite of mine).

The restaurant is filled with meat lovers and especially business man. Heck I am pretty sure no one could say no to a business deal whilst eating such good steak. They will come out and show you all the raw cuts of meat explain each type of meat to you to help with your decision. I can imagine my vegan/vegetarian friends being horrified by this. As we had been here before we didn'treally have to look at the menu. We just got down to business.

We thought it wasn't wise to order any starters as we wanted to focus on our main meal. If you do order a starter I'd recommend the panfried foie gras. Its so good! We decided on the sirloin with some béarnaise sauce. The rib eye is really good too. As are the burgers. My family and I are so greedy that we sometimes share a couple of burgers between all of us and claim its a starter. I am pretty sure our arteries have more beef than blood in them. Its terrible.

Choosing sides was so difficult as we wanted everything. Next time I am going with my family. Since there are six of us we can go to town when ordering. I get to try a bit of everything. Anyway in the end it we went for truffle chips (they are incredible!!) and honey glazed carrots. The mac and cheese is to die for as well. We were so tempted to get that too!

Thank god we didn't order extra sides as we struggled to finish the food. I felt like I was going burst. Even getting up from my chair was a struggle.

We couldn't bare even looking at the dessert menu. I'd recommend any of deserts they are all pretty tasty. I have always been a cheesecake fan though. After we left the restaurant I decided to go home as all I wanted to do was lie down and go into a meat coma!