Aberdeen Angus steakhouse
 

It's sad that unfortunate tourists are still going to these places to confirm their notions that British food is expensive and unbeatable
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-st...t-9268063.html

Whoops, that was meant to be unbeatable. Mind you, at its best with good ingredients freshly cooked, it is unbeatable

Are those places still open?

Was suckered into one on my first trip to London in the last ice age - and I defy anyone to prove they are serving beef. I think it's some strange animal specially toughened up to make it the chewiest thing on earth.

"Are those places still open? "

Some are.

Around 2003, when the previous holding company went bust, there were 23 outlets in central London - and I'm sure I remember branches in other cities. The current holding company then bought eight of them, and now operates six, trading as Angus Steakhouses.

I doubt the quality of the steak matters much. In a city awash with unfathomably exotic food, these places offer something predictable in high-traffic locations amid comforting decor, with not a single hint of foreign names or odd alphabets.

The likelihood is that most customers get pretty much the experience they expect.

Can one still rely on the tinned mixed veg?

It's sad that you can get good steak elsewhere at the same price or cheaper.
It's right that such places confirm people's prejudices.
Does anyone remember Wimpy bars and Lions Corner Houses?

Apparently one of those "prejudices" is that you cannot get good steak elsewhere at the same price or cheaper. I'd say the people who are offering that good steak elsewhere are missing the boat advertising-wise or perhaps they have enough business from people who are "educated" that they don't have to care?

"people who are offering that good steak elsewhere are missing the boat advertising-wise "

As a rough generalisation, retailers in London, and similar European cities, simply don't advertise. Their key asset is location, and retailers like Angus Steakhouses put an acceptable-looking storefront in locations with an immense number of suitable customers walking past.

Grilled steak's a low-interest food in Britain these days, overtaken by 40 years of innovation in practically every other kind of eating you can think of: when Britons crave the chunks of red meat they've been eating since childhood, it's roasts or pies most hanker for.

Other steak chains (like Berni Inns) in prime locations have disappeared (mostly because there just isn't the interest to sustain chains), leaving Angus Steakhouses's six outlets as pretty much the last men standing. I suspect most customers are truly out of town: visitors from the Britain that's neither SE England nor big city, or from those English-speaking bits of abroad where grilled cow is still popular. Angus Steakhouses are where such people are: the restaurants look neither intimidating nor tatty, seem to offer a bit of a treat - and, whatever professional steak chefs might think, probably offer acceptable food at a price that's - well, London's expensive, innit?

The fact that artisan steak places offer better value a few hundred yards away is irrelevant: such places are tucked out of the way - and their value is partly a function of the staggeringly lower rents they pay as a result.

Like everything in British retail (and in most other proper European cities), it ultimately comes down to the three key criteria: location, location and location.

Well I understand why Mickey D's stays in business - cheap and extactly what kids are looking for.

The Angus place - if I recall - charged as if it were an actual restaurant - not a clone of Applebees or Olive Garden.

We did not know it was a chain and my wife was not feeling well, so we wanted to go near the hotel. It seemed crowded with locals and we went in, the one by Paddington. It was dreadful and let management know, who offered us a free meal. Fortunately we were leaving London the next morning.

We shun 99% of chains at home and always TRY to seek food that represents local cuisine. We went there out of ignorance. This was 2012.