Ibai.

Ibai

One kilo of beef goes on a three-level grill with a resting cage and takes about 45 minutes, which is why it comes out perfectly charred and yet gleaming pink inside, and the cattle are retired Basque dairy cows rather than young beef animals (Wallpaper*).

Why go

Nemanja Borjanović already sold this beef to London. He supplies Galician blond and top British beef to restaurants across the city and co-owns Lurra and Donostia, so opening his own room with an ageing cellar in the basement is the supplier cutting out the middle of his own chain (Hot Dinners; London on the Inside). His partners explain the rest of the menu: Will Sheard came out of Majestic Wine and now supplies wine, which is why a steakhouse runs glasses from GBP 10 to bottles in triple digits, and Richard Foster ran the Chiltern Firehouse kitchen for a decade. The room is the ground floor of a former linoleum factory off Little Britain, 80 covers in semicircular dark-wood booths under exposed pipework, with the open grill as the brightest thing in it (Wallpaper*). The cooking is French Basque more than Spanish: three breeds of steak, and around them carabinero, boudin noir, Ossau-Iraty and gâteau Basque.

Order this / avoid

• Order: the Galician blond ex-dairy, which is the one all three reviewers pick out. Jules Pearson's line is For steak lovers, it doesn't really get much better than that Galician blond, it's worth visiting Ibai for this alone3. Take the anchovy and herb salsa with it, and the tomato salad rather than fries. To start, the Croque Ibai at GBP 16, which Catherine Hanly called a god-tier toastie with carabinero, boudin noir and... Miel Rayon d'Or raw honey from the Eastern Pyrenees. One of our best dishes of 2024 so far1, and the Le Noir de Bigorre ham with crisps and smoked piparra peppers.
• Avoid: sitting down and going straight for the steak. A kilo takes about three quarters of an hour, so order snacks first. Also ask the price before you commit, because no published source anywhere gives a steak figure.

What locals & experts say

• Hot Dinners, Catherine Hanly (Aug 2024): what she says about the team is the reason to trust the beef, All in all it's a team who know what they're doing, and her verdict is plain: if you're in the market for great steak, interesting wine and a good time, then Ibai is the place for you. She also reports the six-hour reduction behind the GBP 85 king crab rice.1
• Wallpaper, Lisa Wright (Mar 2025):* Slick but not stuffy, with a clear point of view and a succinct menu that knows what it does and does it very well. On the ham plate: it has become, justifiably, one of Ibai's talking points, arriving as it does like the ultimate bar snack.2
• The honest counterweight, from the same review: a 1kg T-bone "might seem a monstrous amount for two," and Pearson admits she and her party "hit a wall before you finish." You are invited to take the rest home. Plan the meal around that rather than ordering a course each.
• London on the Inside, Jules Pearson (Jul 2024): the detail that shows the operation, On the basement level, there's an ageing room for the beef, a private dining room, and a wine cellar, stocked high with bottles, predominantly from Spain and France.3
• Local rec: Jeff has it as a "New opening 2024, famous steak place for Galician cows." Both halves check out. REAL.

Good to know

• Timing: midday to 10pm, Monday to Saturday. Closed Sunday (venue). It does lunch, which is unusual for a steak room this size.
• Booking: through SevenRooms on the venue site, or reservations@ibai.london. Worth booking, though there is counter seating by the windows if you want one dish and a glass on your own.
• What it costs: snacks and starters run GBP 14 to GBP 16, GBP 29 for the tartare with Oscietra, GBP 85 for the king crab rice, GBP 10 for desserts, wine from GBP 10 a glass. All from 2024 and 2025 reviews. No steak price is published anywhere, so ask.
• Groups: two private dining rooms seat 13 each and can be combined into one.
• Vegetarians: Hot Dinners asked and found a charred cauliflower main with Ossau-Iraty, hazelnuts and parsley, plus a pea and broad bean starter with black truffle. That is the extent of what is on record, and the venue publishes no dietary statement, so call ahead if it matters.
• Where: 90 Bartholomew Close, EC1A 7BN, on the Smithfield side of Little Britain in the old Lino site. Farringdon and Barbican are both close. The food-hygiene register files it under the City of London.
• Hygiene: FSA rating 5, inspected 2 June 2025.
• Wine: the list is Old World by design, with the sommelier's stated aim of covering "all styles at each price point in their optimum drinking window."

Jeff's take (his words)

• Note: "New opening 2024, famous steak place for Galician cows" REAL.

Verdict

should-visit — The beef is the argument. Galician blond from retired dairy cows, from the man who supplies that beef to half of London's better kitchens, aged in a room in this building's basement, then cooked one kilo at a time on a three-level grill with a resting cage over about 45 minutes. Around it sits a genuinely Basque menu rather than a steakhouse one: carabinero tartare, Le Noir de Bigorre ham with smoked piparra peppers, a crab rice on a six-hour bisque, gateau Basque. It is a detour rather than a pilgrimage because it holds no award or ranking on record, the strongest critical review could not be read, and the same beef turns up on other London menus.