Review of O’Shea’s Butcher
After a week without steak I was dying for a great T-bone. One of our Followers recommended O’Shea’s near Bermondsey for a great T-bone so I went to check it out.
A diamond in the rough
O’Shea’s is an Irish butcher located in a hard to reach spot under the arches of the main train line to London Bridge station. This is a down to simple down to earth butchery and a big contract to my visit to Moen & Sons which had a stunning set up and sold all sort of things like herbs and even vegetables. I hadn’t come for herbs or spices though, just a great big T-Bone steak.
O’Shea’s T-Bone steak
The steak from the Angus breed, raised in Perthshire. It was 45 days aged, which is pretty damn good (the most aged beef we’ve bought from a butcher so far).
I didn’t see the butcher cut the steak (as the T-bone wasn’t displayed on the counter), but I did hear the electric saw and see the rest of the cut of T-bone as it was returned. It cost £21.50 for just under 800gm of steak.
The Angus
Like last week’s steak at Jago’s, the T-Bone steak from O’Shea’s was aberdeen angus. The butcher actually called the beef “Black Angus”. I don’t understand why its needs this description as the Angus is natively black.
The Angus breed is from Aderdeenshire originally. The breed is famous for its black colour and ability to produce high marbling in its meat (little bits of fat through lean muscle which, when cooked, are supposed to make the steak juicy and tasty). If you’ve had USDA steak before, chances are that it’s Angus steak (or from a cow that looks like an Angus cow).
If you want to know more about the Angus breed, you can read Steak Society feature on it here: https://steaksociety.com/angus-beef/
The steak
Cooking the T-Bone steak can be tough as you’ve got two very different cuts of steak (The Sirloin and Fillet) at two different sizes. I cooked the steak for about 2 minutes 30 seconds a side and rested it for 4-5 minutes before eating. The result was a great medium-rare steak.
I grabbed a chunk of the sliced sirloin. As a bite my mouth filled with delicious juices. This sirloin was incredibly tasty and juicy. It had just the right amount of chew too. It was exactly what you want in a sirloin. The fillet, was also juicy and really tender but without a lot of taste, again exactly what you expect in a fillet.
The taste was good. It was more of a fatty, soft taste to it as the steak had some decent marbling. It didn’t have the strong beefiness that you find in Basque steaks.
The verdict
I loved the steak from O’Shea’s. It was on par with the steak from Drings, but the price point was slightly higher. The only challenge with O’Shea’s is getting there. You need to get to Bermondsey and then it’s a 10-15 minute walk from there. Thanks to Bjorn Eia for a great recommendation.
This puts O’Shea’s at second place on my leader board. For the most up to date version of the leader board you can click here.
Greenwich DLR
Bermondsey
Wapping
Clapham Common
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What’s next?
You can see me my hitlist of butchers here. But do you know a great butcher in London? I’d love to hear your recommendations so I can try them out for myself. Just comment below or join our group discussion.
