Relais de Venise L’Entrecôte

It really was the making of a Hollywood romcom. Three friends sitting around a table discussing life, debating love, eating good food and drinking wine. A pact was made – signed in (well, a secret steak sauce...naturally) with promises to return back to the same restaurant 12 months later. What would change in a year? Would relationships, psyches and work still be the same? What would they be proud (or maybe not so proud of)?

Fast forward to last Sunday, 12 months to the day. Not exactly all the drama that a Hollywood studio would have crammed into 90 minutes (which would have resulted in friend A dating friend B and friend C ending up gay)– but lots of real life none-the-less.

A few dating stories for the ages, one new love, a fair bit of sharing, a touch of smuttiness, about 30 pounds lost, a near battle with tears, a ‘professional’ dancer, and more promises for another check-in – in 12 more months.

Clearly the venue needed to be consistent - Relais de Venise L’Entrecôte. Perfect in its simplicity (I don't believe they even have a menu) and with locations in London, Paris, New York, and Barcelona, the restaurant does one thing – and one thing only. Thankfully it does it well - steak, salad, and frites accompanied by their secret sauce (which I’ve deconstructed to be about 75% butter, a bit of pesto, and a couple other special ingredients). Oh, and please don’t ask for your steak medium-rare (imposseeblah)! It is served rare or it is served medium. No maybes. No ifs. And certainly no in-betweens. It really is the perfect spot for the indecisive.

Keeping with our not-so-healthy theme of the evening we headed back to C’s flat for some home-made coconut strawberry cheesecake and a bit more gossip. Not usually a cheesecake fan, it had been a special request from B – having recently celebrated a 29th birthday. However, I impressively polished off more than B and C combined (somewhat atypical ) but again – may have been the boozy mango vodka I added into the mixture....a delicious addition I must admit!