I’m very seldom in a steak restaurant. As I’ve noted before, most times for me the interesting thing about a plate of food – certainly if I’m going to throw £20+ at it – is the chef’s choice of flavours and textures, how they balance, how they pop and how they’re presented. Whereas a steak inevitably comes with chips, rocket and a grilled tomato. Maybe a mushroom. On the other hand, really good steak is utterly delicious. So I guess it’s worth hitting a steak house now and again. So, the Windsor Grill.
It’s tucked away about as far as you can get from the tourist scrum around Windsor Castle, which is a great sign. It’s not here to cater for the tourist trade, it’s here for the locals. Inside it is basically a steak house. You’ve got the picture. A nice one. The service couldn’t be more friendly and useful either. They even sympathised with us about the table of ten braying donkeys sat behind us. Bit unlucky, but didn’t spoil the meal.
Chateaubriand
The menu is all trad classics. My snails in garlic butter were from Dorset, plump and toothy, with a pretty good butter though not quite to Gallic standards of stinkiness. Maureen’s popcorn crayfish were a generous bowlful, in good batter, not oily at all.
For the main event we split a chateaubriand. It’s a beautiful piece of meat, as you’d hope. Soft, almost livery, full of flavour and cooked spot on. Truffle fries are good. The bearnaise sauce likewise. And yes, there’s rocket and grilled tomato and a fried mushroom.
Decent selection of wine too. The Windsor Grill is a good go-to if you find yourself in Windsor with no other desire than to avoid the vile tourist restaurants (side note: I’d also recommend Bel and the Dragon as a decent option). You’re looking at £30ish for two courses if you go for steak, but they’ve plenty of other options.