B&K Salt Beef Bar, Edgware

Tuesday 8 June 2010 | |






The only bad thing I can say about the B&K is ITS TO FAR FROM ME!!!! Im in Indiana 


the portions are as big as mikes chest ,plenty to grab hold of and the price is still to this day very very reasonable.

B&K is every bit as good as Schwartz's in Montreal & Carngie Deli in NYC.


Above is three excerpts from reviews on London Eating. We'll put the questionable spelling and grammar down to their excitement about this Jewish restaurant/deli in Edgware, north London. An area with a significant Jewish population, it houses a few Kosher and Kosher style eateries - most are closed on Saturdays, of course, but a few like B&K ignore Shabbat and remain open. Along with the salt beef pictured here, they sell chopped herring, ox tongue, fish balls, matzoh ball soup and various salads, available to take away by weight or eat in as part of a meal. You can also take away the meats away as part of a sandwich. The big seller is the salt beef in rye bread, with a smear of mustard.

Salt beef on rye bread (£4). Brilliantly cheap, but I suppose we're in Zone 5 now, not Selfridges! For my money, the vast difference in price between this sandwich and the salt beef available at the Brass Rail can only be explained by location; the quality of both sandwiches is only notable in that the salt beef in Edgware is more enjoyable due to being about six pounds cheaper! That is to say, the salt beef from B&K is brilliant: it has the perfect half-way texture, between chewy and a softness the perfect distance away from mushy. The good quality meat also comes piled high in your sandwich, but not so much that you can't fit it into your mouth. Well judged.

The rye bread is good. I can't help but think of the rye used at Katz's deli for their pastrami sandwich - an imitation, more similar to cardboard than bread, its purpose similar to a fork, used to carry meat to your mouth. This bread is a million miles away and is delicious enough to eat on its own. Studded with caraway seeds, it's the appropriate level of soft and doesn't detract or distract from the meat.

I've been going to B&K Salt Beef Bar for a few years now so perhaps I'm biased, but I think it's one of the best salt beef sandwiches, if not the best, in London. The other options are good too, if you have space after eating one of their mega sandwiches.


11 Lanson House
Whitchurch Lane
Edgware
London
HA8 6NL


B&K Salt Beef Bar on Urbanspoon

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

How does it compare to Gaby's on Charing Cross Road? Totally agree with you about Katz's bread...
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TMW

The Grubworm said...

That does look like a finely judged sandwich. And no extraneous fillers either which is great. Meat, mustard, bread, the very foundation of a decent lunch.

I'm rarely up in that neck of the woods, but this does mean that there is a reason to explore the lesser known (to me) parts of zone five...

Ibzo said...

Hi Anon. Gaby's: weird thing is, I had my first ever salt beef sandwich from Gaby's, when I was about seven years old. You see, my uncle worked there for about fifteen years, before moving on and starting his own business. He was in charge of brining and boiling the salt beef there and to be honest, I'm quite biased because of the link! I think Gaby's is very good, and a great option (at a good price) for the area, but B&K is hard to beat. If I could choose one, it'd be B&K, but one is in Edgware and the other is in the centre of London, so it may just come down to convenience!

Grubworm - Exactly. Meat and bread, bit of mustard and you're done. Very nice. I think there's a few places in Edgware worth seeking out, especially if you want to try out more Kosher foods. There's also a couple of well liked Turkish places and a few Caribbean jerk shops that looks alright.

issei.ps said...

my goodness, I've very rarely seen such beefy goodness - this place, I must visit!

Niamh said...

Oooh, looks very good! Lovely photos too. Have gound a great salt beef place in Stamford Hill (lots of Hassific Jews around here). Bread and sandwich itself average, but the salt beef is terrific.

youngandfoodish said...

Important distinction: Greek-Cypriot owners of B&K brine their briskets from scratch, unlike most London salt beef bars who buy theirs pre-cured from Hensons. Only wish B&K's superb salt beef was more consistently moist and melty.

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Anonymous said...

Is the salt beef served warm or cold? Agreed the rye at Katz isnt great, but they do win me over with their steaming hand sliced pastrami!

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