Macellaio Rc South Kensington

It had been a long time since I’d seen my friend Rob, and luckily he was in town so we did what we always do and picked a place to gorge ourselves silly. This time, we selected Macellaio RC which I’m told means “the butcher” in Italian. It’s definitely an apt name as the front window is a dry aging cabinet and the first thing you see when you walk in is a display of meat and a butcher going to town on a beautiful forerib. Yep, the steaks are butchered to order and that display pretty much sums up what you are in for.

I love this place

Meat aged for 6 weeks, from only the finest north italian female cows is delicious!

Go for the filet if you dont feel like sharing, or share a rib eye or T-bone platter with friends... 800g is enough for 2 ppl, for 4 get a couple of plates at 700.

The desert is incredible and everything is homemade... You cant go wrong with the homemade tiramisu or cheesecake

The service and knowledge of the staff of wine and meat is impressive

This restaurant is good for a date, or for a boys night out of red meat and wine!

This place comes at a price, however... Expect to pay no less than £100 for 2 people.

Stay hungry my friends!

Got invited to this gem for a birthday dinner when it used to be called Maxela, did not have much of a clue to be honest, till I walked past the glorious cuts of meat by the entrance and everything just magically turned perfect! The ambience, the smell, the wine, mamma mia! 

The old style Fiorentina we ordered was legendary; tender, juicy and the taste of the 'tagliata' was one for the senses! Service was very good too, I also had a couple of conversations with the waiter in between courses about meat and wine combos. The quality of the meat reflects in prices, of course - it is slightly expensive to eat here but fitting for a special occasion or two. 

This one is a must in South Ken, if you are feeling a bit carnivorish!

Maxela opened in late 2012 in the Brompton Road, near South Kensington tube station. The dining room is in two parts. The first room as you enter features a large meat counter with a few tables, so it looks a bit like a butcher’s shop that has added a few seats. Indeed the name of the restaurant means “butcher” in a Ligurian dialect. The second, more conventional dining room is beyond, and has a skylight and tiled floor, with a blackboard picture illustrating the various cuts of meats from a cow. Maxela is a branch of a small chain of restaurants of this format in Italy, which has at the time of writing grown to nine branches. The chef here is Rafaelle Cozzolino, who has cooked at a few London restaurants, most recently the Taverna Italiana in Wimbledon.

What interested me is that Maxela specialises in Fassone beef, which I have eaten several times in Piedmont but never in London. This Piedmontese meat is interesting in a number of ways; It comes from a breed of cattle selectively bred to have a faulty gene that causes the cattle to have less connective tissue than usual, which results in a very tender meat. Fassone beef has much less fat than normal cattle, about one-third the calories of normal beef, and less than half the cholesterol. It looks suspiciously lacking in marbling, and yet is still tender. The menu, not surprisingly, is heavily oriented towards meat, with a selection of cured meats, a few pasta dishes and a number of ways of serving the Fassone beef. The beef is imported vacuum-packed from Piedmont, aged for 25 days. The meat is then aged further depending on the particular piece of beef in the restaurant, typically for a further 4-6 weeks. Only female cattle are used here (the male cattle can have a gamey flavour when aged).

There are a couple of pasta dishes without meat in case a truly short-sighted vegetarian decides to wander in by mistake. A burger using the high quality beef was available for just £6.50. The sliced Fassone beef, offered with various accompaniments, was just £16, which to me seems a bargain.

The Italian wine list starts at £18, going up to £99. It has wines such as Falesco Poggio Dei Gelsi Est Monte Fiascone at £22 for a wine that you can find in the shops for around £9, Antinori Chianti Classico at £36 for a wine that retails at around £23, and Flesco Montefalco Sagrantino at £60 for a wine that cost around £35 in a shop. There is even Antinori Tenuta Guado al Tasso 2007 at £99 for a wine that will set you back around £72 to purchase retail. Given that there are some fairly serious wines on the list, it is irritating that vintages are not listed (I only found about about the vintage of the Antinori wine by asking to see the bottle).

Fresh taglierini pasta was served with a ragu, the pasta having good texture, the tomato sauce with meat having quite full flavour (14/20). I was able to try two cuts of the Fassone beef. The rump steak was offered with rocket and shaven ricotta. Cooked medium-rare this had excellent flavour (14/20), but even better was a rib-eye of the Fassone, which had deeper flavour and was genuinely top class, accurately seasoned (easily 15/20). Unfortunately it was accompanied by some truly dire fries, which were actually hand-cut but were limp yet leathery: really disappointing (8/20). This was quite jarring given the quality of the other dishes that I tried.

Latte dolci fritto (£5) is a Ligurian speciality: thickened milk flavoured with lemon zest and sugar is put into a blast-chiller to solidify, then coated in breadcrumbs and deep-fried. It was very pleasant, though a bit more lemon would have improved it (13/20). Tiramisu (£6) was nice, though the coffee flavour could have been quite a bit stronger to my taste (13/20).

The bill came to £31 a head, with just water (£2.25 a bottle) to drink. Espresso was very good. With a modest wine the bill would come to around £50 a head for three courses. Service was friendly, the manager in particular very enthusiastic and helpful. It is always tricky scoring a restaurant that essentially does one thing very well, but I will leave it at 13/20 for now given the unevenness. Maxela is clearly a restaurant that has a lot of enthusiasm behind it, and if they can iron out some issues (in particular the poor chips) then they should do very well, especially given the modest price point. I will be happy to return.

A lovely steak house. We have ordered a 2.2kg T-bone steak to share between the three of us. We wanted a leaner cut of meat. The steak was fresh, cooked well and well seasoned. Potato side dishes were delicious too.

Exceeded all expectations! We recieved a recommendation via instagram which advertised a Halal Menu. Being huge steak fans we had to come and try it for ourselves. We placed our booking online where they offer a number of personalised services to suit your needs. We pre selected the halal option, I was nervous about where we'd be seated as they also sell alcohol but I needn't have worried. We were taken downstairs, away from the crowd to a gorgeous, chandelier & candle lit room. It was quiet, cosy and had our halal menu pre set on the table. The atmosphere was wonderful, we truly enjoyed our evening. We can't thank the staff enough for their hospitality, professional service and amazing food. 👏🏽 can't wait to try their other venues next. 10/10 muslim friendly.

Great aged steak that is perfect to enjoy with your loved ones. Very friendly and helpful staff, will definitely return again the next time we are in the area.

The menu was limited but the food tasted ok. The salad was bland and disappointing. The tiramasu was excellent. Amazing customer service. They have a Halal menu.

We are not new to this restaurant but evry time it doesn’t live is disapponted! The food is amazing, the staff is always nice and the atmosphere is perfect and relaxed. We definitely reccomend it for people that likes good quality meat! Can’t wait to try the Sunday Roast!