Review of W H Wellbeloved

Tucked away off New Cross Road in South East London is W H Wellbeloved, a small butcher which was established in 1829.

I visited late on a Saturday afternoon and the shop was quiet. The fare was mostly standard butcher; various sausages, pies and cuts of steak. My eye was drawn to the hanging steak and then the shelves where three enormous chunks of uncarved t-bone steaks sat. For those unfamiliar with T-bone steaks, it consists of two cuts of steak separated by a T shaped bone. The smaller cut is Fillet (UK)/tenderloin (US) while the larger is Sirloin (UK)/Strip steak (US).

The butcher, greeted me warmly in a South London inflection, and seem pleased in my interest in the largest of the enormous t-bone steak. I asked for two steaks about 1.5 inches each. The butcher prepared the steaks, cut off the excess and then weighed the steaks. It cost about £33 for 1.8kg of T-bone. I was warmly thanked as I left.

I left the steak out on the bench for a couple of hours. As the t-bone barely fit into my pan I decided I would take a different approach to cooking the steak from how I usually would (usually I fry fillet or rib eye for 2mins each side on high temperature, flipping every minute). I decided to cook it for 4mins each side without flipping.

The result was a perfect medium-rare t-bone steak. The sirloin/strip steak was not only tasty but probably the most tender sirloin steak I have ever eaten (usually sirloin will fight back a little when you eat it). The fillet was exactly as expected, having less taste but still more delicate than the very delicate sirloin.

Overall, I was very impressed with the service, quality and value of W H Wellbeloved and will return.