Zelman Meats, Harvey Nichols, Knightsbridge, unlikely venue for an excellent pre-gig dinner

We haven't had a date night for a little while so I managed to get us tickets to see Suzanne Vega at Cadogan Hall near Sloane Square. We normally go for dinner at the capable Colbert when down that way but this time I thought it might be nice to visit the new outpost of Zelman Meats. We are already huge fans of the original Zelman Meats in St Annes court Soho so we were keen to see it's little sister.  It is on the 5th floor of Harvey Nicks next to it's wildly successful stable mate Burger & Lobster. It's a small concession recently vacated by an un-lamented outpost of the dire Polpo (please search 'emperors new clothes' for my take).  As it's 6PM on a Tuesday the store is winding down for the day giving it a languid feel. Having said that about half the tables are taken in Zelman's including a large group of Chinese tourists who are finishing up a big feed. I take a table opposite the kitchen hatch and order an old fashioned and wait for my better half to turn up. She arrives a bit later having made the most of the quiet in store to have a mooch around.

My lovely wife orders a tasty bramble cocktail and we peruse the menu which we are pleased to see has additional items not found at St Anne's Court. We go for 200g of fillet steak, 200g of brisket and a beef short rib to share. Sides are truffle trips and their super food salad. We wash this down with a bottle of Rioja. The brisket is very good, naturally fatty but in a tasty way, the beef rib is very nice as usual. For me however the best cut is the fillet which we have rare. It is proper melt in the mouth stuff, probably sous vided but with a superb taste. The truffle chips are good but the star of the show is the superfood salad which is plentiful in size and flavour. I wish more restaurants would make a proper salad like this as it is the perfect accomplice to the rich meat.  As you may have seen I'm a sceptic when it comes to sharing plates but as this all comes together it works well as a meal. Another plus here is that everything is served at the right temperature which shows a kitchen and serving team working well together. 

We enjoy a couple of post meal ports and the very friendly Sicilian waiter offers us a free dessert of brownie and ice cream to share, which we "reluctantly" accept. All in all a very nice meal. I'm a bit annoyed that when I'm offered still or sparking water which is complimentary at St Anne's court but here I'm given Harvey Nick's bottled at £5 a pop. Having said that this is rectified later on when the great Sicilian chap replenishes it with plentiful tap water. Items such as the 2 types of waygu beef are clearly aimed at a more spendy crowd. The wine list also features some chunky bottles on their special reserve list but possibly in a nod to middle eastern clientele there is no room for the excellent Israeli cab sav they do at St Anne's court. Our meal comes to £160 for two which is plenty, having said that the food is very good and we well looked after. I notice they do a couple of nice deals at lunch so you can come here and be well fed for less. It was a great place to start our date night and imagine lunch here when the store is bustling would make for a great atmosphere. Harvey Nicks is not a place I would choose to shop in but with the presence of Zelman Meats and Burger & Lobster it is certainly worth stopping here to eat.