But the execution wasn’t so simple. Charlie spent nine months teaching himself butchery, learning about the lesser-known secondary cuts of beef, and working through a list of 38 suppliers, trying to find the right beef for his mission. And now here he was, preparing a flat iron steak for the first ever Flat Iron guest.
He’d hit upon a little-known cut: the flat iron. The flat iron is a cut from the featherblade, taken from just below the shoulder of the animal. When it comes from the very best beef, is seam-butchered with skill and care, and cooked thoughtfully, a flat iron steak is remarkable: rich, tender and full of flavour – but affordable, too. What started out as a pop-up above a pub quickly became a sell-out, with queues stretching down the stairs. Just a few months later, the first Flat Iron restaurant opened in the heart of Soho.
Today, we have a host of Flat Irons, all over London, and reaching as far as Manchester, Leeds, and Cambridge, with plans to open more around the country and our team keeps growing. We even have our own herd of cattle, the Flat Iron herd, who are looked after in Thirsk, North Yorkshire, and have taught us so much about the thought and care that goes into rearing really good beef. But wherever we go, our focus remains the same: great steak for everyone.